Phedippidations (Sport)

44 years ago in the fall of the year 1973, at the age of 11 years young: I became a proud member of the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 53 of the Old Colony Council. This is all about my earning the "Hiking Skill Award"

Today’s episode is an addendum to my last episode, number 343 “Dr. George Sheehan: Beginning”. Although not a prerequisite to listening to this, Alot of what I’m going to say about running flows directly from what Dr. Sheehan had to say about taking to the road and lacing up our shoes.

If I'd thought about it I never would've done it I guess I would've let it slide If I'd-a paid attention to what others were thinkin' The heart inside me would've died But I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity Someone had to reach for the risin' star I guess it was up to me I met somebody face to face and I had to remove my hat She's everything I need and love but I can't be swayed by that It frightens me, the awful truth of how sweet life can be But she ain't a-gonna make me move, I guess it must be up to me Bob Dylan

Anhedonia is a symptom of depression...and it's a pretty rotten symptom, but like most things in this life, it can be overcome. If you ever find yourself suffering from a loss of passion: don’t give up. Talk to your doctor and get help. It’s never to late to live your life to the top.

Here’s the problem with almost all of the processed foods that are available to us today: They’re convenient, easy to prepare if preparation is even necessary, they’re easily accessible, inexpensive, and uber-laden with multiple forms of sugar, salt and fat. Today’s highly processed foods are easy to get calories from without alot of chewing…most processed food melts in your mouth and proceed without delay down your gullet. I'm not telling you what to eat, I'm just saying to think about it....there's no conspiracy here but food corporations want you to over eat everything they make....that's just good business on their part, but it takes wisdom to purchase and consume what can only be called "real food".

Back in February of 2015, on episode 324 of Phedippidations, I revealed to you the measure of my health, listing the vital clinical statistics of my internal and external physical and mental condition including: how active I was, how well I slept, how good my mood was, how much energy I had, and: “the overall quality of my life experience”.

I told you back then, that we’d revisit this personal health information in September…but due to a scheduling conflict with my Primary Care Physician, I had to push this back until today.

I told you at the time, that life is not predictable, but that I did hope for a return to where I once belonged.

Well, I’ve learned a few things this year: about myself, about my relationship with running and especially quite a bit about the pursuit and attainment of happiness.

And now it’s October: we’re more than 80% through the end of the year "getting back to where we once belonged”, and for me…I’ve come upon a bit of a road block.

To best understand this road block, we have to talk about the philosophy of Nietzsche…and I know, I know…I said I wasn’t going to talk about philosophy on Phedippidations…but there’s just no other way, and I promise you that this is related to running.

In order to understand the nature of this “road block”, we have to spend some time talking about Friedrich, since to a great extent it’s because of him that I’ve come to this.

I told you at the start that this year’s journey might not end so well…and there’s still plenty of time to finish strong, but getting past this point is proving to be…well, difficult at best, impossible at worst. I’ve reached The Wall.

Links:

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of listeners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

I’m humbled. What can I say? I’m totally humbled here, reeling in fact from the kind words from so many friends and fellow runners, people whom I admire a great deal.

I’ll be honest with you…I’ve always been honest with you (for better or worse) …I’m not someone who thinks very highly of myself…and so, what you’re about to hear are some really special people saying some very incredible things about..well…me.

I’m not sure that I deserve the kindness, but you must…I beg you, you MUST understand how much I appreciate the kind words.

Ten years. I really don’t have alot to say about the 10th anniversary of this podcast. I’m happy about it; I’m glad that I’m still producing the show, and I’m very honored to have run with you for the last full decade of my life.

Obviously this show and I have changed quite alot since July 4th of 2005 and there's quite alot that you can say about change. It's scary, it's sometimes sad, sometimes amazing, it's ongoing and ever constant.

Heraclitus of Ephesus, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher born in 535 BC said it best when he wrote “There is nothing permanent except change.”

One of the biggest changes with respect to this podcast isn’t so much the audio quality, format or content…it’s me. Here’s something that I’ve learned after 10 years of podcasting: Although there is pain in life, I am NOT a man of constant sorrow. I have NOT seen trouble all of my days.

I’ve seen injury, illness, tragedy and betrayal…yes, that’s true…but most of the past 3,652 days have been good days, most of the past 10 years have been filled with good times, amazing friends and pure joy. Life is pain, but it’s also beautiful. It’s easy to focus on the sorrow, but I take comfort in knowing that it isn’t constant.

“The Dude abides. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners.”

That was a quote from the character “The Stranger” played by Sam Elliot from the cult classic movie “The Big Lebowski”.

What does that have to do with 10 years of podcasting, I suppose you’re asking. It’s a good question, worthy of a good answer: which is this:

I, like the Dude…abide. As I get older…as WE get older, our bodies will slowly loose the “vim and vigor” of our youth…but that doesn’t mean we have to go, as Dylan Thomas writes “gentle into that good night”. Old age shouild burn and rave at close of day, rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This dude, this runner abides. I abide the lessons of these past ten years, of physical exhaustion, emotional tragedy, crushing defeat and betrayal. I abide the love, joy and peace of living my life to the top. I abide and savor, like a fine Argentinian Malbec, or a classic Cotes du Rhone the friendships I've made thanks to this goofy little podcast.

Thank you Adam for reminding me that I'm better than I feel, and that no man is a failure who has friends.

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Man of Constant Sorrow” was by Rod Stewart.

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

It was a perfect day for a run in New England. Presented by the Squannacook River Runners, this is the 24th running of the Groton Road Race.

Being a runner feels different for me now. The universe is undergoing entropy…and I’m a part of that universe. I can’t go home again, but I can get back to where I once belonged…even if, when I get there…I’m not the same runner I used to be. That’s okay, that’s a good thing.

These people, this race, that feeling of being a participant in something great and fun… it’s so much of what I’ve missed about running. Happiness is feeling accepted…it’s being with others who live their lives to the top. It’s the charm, the spell or the mojo of a moment in time.

I had a fantastic time at the Groton Road Race, aka “The Mojo au Groton”. It was great to get together with Deb, Doug, Donna, Kathy, Jay, John, and Jack.

“Start, Finish and Have Fun”. Is there a better way to describe the purpose of a road race? Medals and prizes, trophies and awards are wonderful to achieve, but at the core of it: the reason to run a race should have this higher purpose.

Links:

Intervals between episodes and the complete conversation with Coach Jeff can be heard over at steverunnerblog.com

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Feels Like Coming Home” was performed by Jetta. https://soundcloud.com/jetta

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com and RunKeeper.steverunner.com.

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

Most runners could go out, right now and run a few miles under the morning sun. We often do so without considering the power of the act. We take for granted the incredible advantage this gives us as situations arise which requires it. We forget that running can sometimes be a means to an end and that aside from it’s impressive list of benefits, running and self ambulation gives us the means to explore.

Training is important and I’m not suggesting that we abandon our training…I’m just putting the idea out there that as runners we have a gift of motion that does not limit us to the road, or trail…it doesn’t require a certain pace or time for completion. I’m proposing, that instead of punishing ourselves with devotion to a schedule…no matter how much we love adhering to said schedule…that we should instead look at our running as “playtime”.

Links:

Intervals between episodes and the complete conversation with Coach Jeff can be heard over at steverunnerblog.com

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Lost and Found” was by the band Eve 6, from Southern California. Check out all of their music over at http://www.eve6.com

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com and RunKeeper.steverunner.com.

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

“The Young Man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions” wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes. Coaches, Experts, Friends and Fellow Runners all seem to agree that “slowly and carefully ramping up your mileage” is a reasonable approach for our training. Just as the mighty oak begins it’s life as a weak and tiny acorn, my return to the road has to be rooted a slow and cautious increase in miles and duration. A tree isn’t ruled by a ten percent growth rate. I’m not trying to convince you to follow or ignore any rules but I do think that we should train with the patience, strength and persistence of a tree. Maybe, the best way to increase my mileage is to just get out there, running down the road ignoring time and space, and focusing more on living my life the top. Links: Thanks to Coach Jeff Smith for sharing his thoughts on training and the 10% rule. You can hear much more from Jeff over at http://www.coachjeff.com.au Intervals between episodes and the complete conversation with Coach Jeff can be heard over at steverunnerblog.com

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Run” was by Stephen Fretwell off the album Magpie. Check him out at http://www.stephenfretwell.com.

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com and RunKeeper.steverunner.com.

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

This is a transformative journey that we’re taking together, so it might help you to understand the context of this journey if you could understood a bit more about where I’ll be running.

In better understanding the mindset of the host and location of this podcast, you’ll better understand how your own terroir, or sense of place, affects your own journey.

You live where you do for reasons beyond mere choice or accident. Maybe you’re there because of work, or family, or because you like the temperature of the Mojitos, but at some level you are where you are because you want to be there.

It’s not just because I’ve grown up in New England that makes me want to be here; it’s not just the people whom I care about: family and friends who for whatever reason call New England their home; it’s because this place has, to a great extent, made me who I am. I fit in well here, in fact: despite my complaining about the cold and snow, I actually thrive here.

Well, maybe “thrive” isn’t the right word, but I do feel that I “need” to be here, and maybe that’s enough.

This is “New” England, but it’s not just a state in the Unite, it’s a state of mind.

I am a New England runner. These rolling hills and colonial pathways will be the stage for my return to the road, as I run through time and space to get back to where I once belonged: living my life to it’s top, opening my squeaky door and finding comfort in a place I’ll call home.

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Choose to Be” was by Allison Crowe off her album “Little Light”, learn more over at http://www.allisoncrowe.com

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com and RunKeeper.steverunner.com.

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

This is part one of a two part episode. I’ll publish the second part at the end of the year.

In the last episode of Phedippidations I talked about getting back to a metaphysical place where I once belonged: a "home" where I was once happy and healthy. For lack of a better term I called this a “transformative journey” and said that I wasn’t doing this to specifically lose weight or get healthier, but to regain that passion I once had for this sport and to feel like a member of the running community again. In returning to the road, health and happiness will be a welcome side effect.

Today I'd like to talk a little bit about those side effects.

When you head out on a geographical journey, you can usually tell when you’ve arrived at your destination. En route to Key West, I knew that I had arrived when Route 1A ended and the bartender at The Green Parrot handed me a cold margarita.

What does it mean to be happy and healthy? What is the measure of such happiness and health? If this is a journey, I should know where I’m starting out so that when I get to the place where I once belonged, I’ll know that I’ve arrived.

A true measure of health has to involve more than just vital clinical statistics. It’s got to be a measure of internal and external physical conditions including: how active we are, how well we sleep, how well our mood is, how much energy we have, and probably most importantly: “the overall quality of our current life experience”.

In the Fall, we’ll look back on these measurements to see if I’ve improved in any areas of my health and happiness.

That's kind of a big IF by the way. I’m going to be reminding you, as we go along, that life is not predictable. I can wish, pray, burn incense, make offerings to my favorite magical beast or intergalactic ruler...but none of those things are going to ensure a beautiful future.

Hope is good, I hope that in a year from now I'm running with you at road races somewhere the world...but “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride” and if I want to be Steve Runner again, I'm going to have to make it happen myself. No meaningless incantation or holistic paranormal make believe supernatural overlord is going to intercede in reality and grant me health and happiness.

Here I am, all 222 unhealthy pounds of me, ready to take the first step of many to return to the road, and it all starts with a measure of health.

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Ready” was by Kodaline off their new album “Coming Up For Air”, learn more over at http://www.kodaline.com

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at health.steverunner.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

I “once belonged” to a community of fellow runners. I understand that many of you and this association have always considered me to be a member of the “run local, think global” team, but I haven’t felt that way for some time. That’s my problem, and it’s okay, that’s going to change.

I “once belonged” out on twelve mile long run around my town, through the hills of an Old New England farm trail, past the birthplace of the “Angel of the American Civil War Battlefield”, Clara Barton, past St. Roch’s Church and the Roman Catholic congregation that I left a few years ago, past our town library, built in eighteen sixty-nine where I wrote the first scripts for Phedippidations and then past the hearthstone marker of the Johnson homestead, where John Johnson and his three children were massacred in sixteen ninety-six.

I “once belonged” to a group of running podcasters and bloggers in a “run net community” of content creators who spoke and wrote about their passion for the sport.

I “once belonged” but I lost my way.

Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to “get back to where I once belonged”.

So how is this going to work? How am I going to get back to where I once belonged?

One step at a time.

Phedippidations is now, in a way, a documentary about my getting back into running. The health, peace of mind and happiness is all a wonderful side effect: but the mission is clear. This is not going to be any kind of a “self help” podcast…If I make recommendations, it’s only because I’m following my own advice.

I’m not setting my sights on a marathon or even a specific finishing time in any duration road race…I simply want to get back to where I once was…where I couldn’t wait to lace up my shoes and get 5 in, where I counted the days until my next road race…not because I wanted to set a PR, that was the old home…the home I can’t go back to…this time, I want to run my next race to participate…to feel like I’m a part of something….to get back to where I once belonged.

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at gerwolf.com

The song “Welcome All Again” was by Collective Soul out of Stockbridge, Georgia. Check out all of their amazing music over at http://www.collectivesoul.com

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

Track my return to the road at fitbit.steverunner.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

Episode twenty-three of Phedippidations, which was published on December 18th, Anno domini 2005 was titled “Cold Weather Running”.

I guess you could consider this a bit of an update to that recording. While some of the information I covered back then was useful, I think I my have missed some Key (West) points that should be made more clear...and furthermore, I think that the way that show was produced...specifically …WHERE it was recorded, could be improved upon.

Thus I can think of no better place to record an episode about running across the Frozen White Wasteland than from this barren, remote and isolated speck of an island at the end of the East Coast of the United States...a little place first known as "Bone Cay" for the littered piles of skeletal remains found here by Ponce de León in 1521.

And so while it might be a bit strange for me to talk about cold weather running from here in Key West, it may help to get you in the mood by listening to a nine year younger and significantly COLDER version of me giving you some basic tips about dressing for the tundra.

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song “Living on Key West Time” was by Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24 check out all of their Florida Keys style tropical tunes over at http://www.milemarker24.com

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.

We live in the age of the selfie and self promotion. Social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Podcasts: allow us to share so much of our lives, and we…in posting such content assume that there’s someone out there who cares…or maybe we just hope they do. For better or worse, we’ve become a society of exhibitionists, sometimes even boastful of our situation and accomplishments. I disagree with the Christian view that pride is one of the so called “seven deadly sins” I agree with Aristotle that is is the crown of virtue, not to be confused with vanity…although…let’s be honest, sometimes there is a bit of vanity involved in the self promotion that all of this new technology allows us. But when it comes to fitness trackers, heath apps and the ability to record and sometimes share our every step, stride and vital statistics…I think there’s something else going on. In a way, I think we’re looking to improve ourselves through technology by better understanding our behavior as a way to change our lives for the better. This is the self quantified life. A way of using fitness trackers, smart phone applications and other accessories to constantly monitor and record the way you use your body with the goal of helping you to improve your behavior. The quantified self is all about better understanding our physical behavior as a way to improve the physical condition of this organic machine we inhabit, as we experience the universe around us and live our lives to the top. So go ahead and tweet your progress, post your race results on Facebook, share physical improvements with your social media connected friends…and share with the world your quantified self. Links: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/07/tell-me-everything-about-you-whats-next-in-quantified-self/ http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140917/BLOG/309179995 http://www.jmir.org/2014/8/e192/ Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com. The song - “Me the Machine” was by Imogen Heap off her 2011 album “Sparks”. Check out all of her amazing contemporary goodness at http://imogenheap.com Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/ ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 70 friends and fellow runners: Vera, Katie, Ryan, Chaise, Gordon, Scott, Mike, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Cheryl, Ron, Mark, Martha, Greg, Jim, Tim, Bill, David, Doug, Vance, Marcelo, Roberto, Zaki, Margaret, James, Norm, Simon, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Glenn, Trey, Steve, Angie, Al, Toni, Martin, Lynn, Nancy, Eric, Jim, Joe, Martin, Rich, Tom, David, Pierre, Maria, Hisham, Andrea, Brad, Dave, Desiree, Jens (@ScenicRunner), Claudia, Jill, Elizabeth, Pat, Marc, Evelyn, Chris, Dino, Michael, Clay, George, Matthew and Pedro.

Something to contemplate on your long, slow run today: The Teleological argument in support of the existence of God says “that the universe is ordered towards some end or purpose, that it was created by an intelligent being in order to accomplish some purpose.” FACT: We live in a 13.7 Billion year old universe that will end in a “Heat Death” 100 Trillion years from now. The Scottish philosopher David Hume didn’t think much of the “Teleological Wish”…he wrote that: “A very small part of this great system, during a very short time, is very imperfectly discovered to us, and do we thence pronounce decisively concerning the origin of the whole?” The Anthropic argument for or against God, misses and the Teleological argument is just something that we wish for. There are, generally speaking 5 arguments used to prove the existence of God: The Teleological, Cosmological, Ontologocal, Moral, Miracles and Religious Experience. Today, we will focus on the Teleological, which leads to a discussion of the Anthropic. The teleological argument does not prove the existence of God, no matter what the apologist William Craig has to say…but to his credit, the argument doesn’t disprove Gods existence either….but whatever you do, I implore you NOT to take my word for it. I want to make it clear that in this episode I have not stated my position on the existence of God. I’m not here to state an opinion…you have to decide for yourself. Maybe you’ll decide not to think about it, and remain as spiritual or atheistic as you’ve ever been: that’s your decision.

But I want to think about it, I want to know…and it’s my opinion that you should as well…because the universe is an enormous, amazing, curious, exploding, inhospitable mess of a thing, and it’s likely just one of an infinite number of universes that exists through an infinite regression of universes. As truly insignificant as we are, we should be in awe of the consciousness that allows us to contemplate the origin and purpose…if there is one…of all that has ever or will ever be. Links:

On the Fox News website a few weeks ago, Dr. Jennifer Landa, wrote an article “How Endurance Running Can Damage Your Health”. Dr. Landa is an excellent physician. She’s the Chief Medical Officer of BodyLogicMD, a franchise of doctors specializing in bioidentical hormone therapy.

In this episode of Phedippidations, I’m going to refute Dr. Landa’s arguments by applying a healthy dose of skepticism to her craftily…and well worded arguments. But unlike my usual vitriolic attacks pointing out the blatant logical fallacies presented an article…and I must tell you, Dr. Landa has made many weak transgressions here…I’m going to try and be “fair and balanced”.

I say try…I’m not on par with Dr. Landa’s intelligence: but I think I’m pretty good at refutations…so, I’ll give it a shot.

It’s good to warn readers about the dangers of any activity…but you absolutely MUST comment on the validity of the proof. That wasn’t done here, and that’s both egregious and misleading.

It’s important, to me at least, that I make the declaration that “I don’t know everything”. I’ll defer to Dr. Landa on all of the subjects of which she is an expert…but if you’re making an argument with poor reasoning, then the burden of proof is with you….and that’s the truth no matter what FOX says.

Links:

Direct link to old episodes of Intervals: http://my.ipadio.com/Settings.aspx?page=58#broadcasts

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song - “Skeptic” was by the musician and fellow podcaster George Hrab, off the album “Vitriol”. You can hear more from George over at http://www.geologicpodcast.com

FitBit at fitbit.steverunner.com.

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 68 friends and fellow runners:

I have this “other podcast”, that I call Intervals…and unlike the portmanteau title of Phedippidations…the title “Intervals” is a bit of a double entendre. Whereas Phedippidations usually has a theme to each episode…Intervals is themeless. I “make it up as I go along”, and it has been a sort of “stream of consciousness” podcast that I put out there…because, why not?

Today we’ll go back to the year of our (Time) Lord 2010. It was a good year; as years go. Since then, so much has changed in my life…as it has with yours.

Back then I was still running road races and marathons, back then my weight was below 190 and my injuries were minor.

Now, I’m not telling you this as someone who laments the good old days…or to garner sympathy for the darks times we’ve experienced since…I’m simply putting this out there to remind you that the period of four years both seems like a long time ago, and yet it’s demonstrably not.

So what should we learn from this? I think it’s best that we live in the present. Assume that tomorrow will be a better day, but don’t dwell on it…don’t focus on what’s to come because: that’s for later; be here: now.

I am notoriously bad at living for the moment…the very exercise of producing this episode has forced me to relive my past…and that took me away from where I was as I listened to over 40 hours of podcasts, taking notes on bits to include here. What a colossal waste of time…I only hope that I didn’t waste yours…and maybe, just maybe, my effort here will have forced us both to consider living in the present.

The Buddah said “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

We can only truly experience the universe and our own lives, right now…in the present. The past and future are nothing more than concepts…our brains retain the memories of what happened and create thoughts about what will be…but it’s the present that matters. Right now, where ever you are, listening to my voice…which, interestingly was recorded in your past…this present moment is the thing we should concentrate on.

The problem with dwelling on the past and future is that you can easily get stuck there…and that’s not good because if you’re there and not here, you’re missing out on having a profound experience every day…you’re missing out on what’s happening all around you…you’re missing out on life.

The person who recorded these Intervals is gone forever…in his place, right now…is this new guy…facing not the future or lamenting the past: but trying as best he can…(and not going all that great of a job of it, may I point out) of living his life in the present.

It’s not easy…it seems like it should be, but it’s not. You want to experience something more profound than the “Ice Bucket Challenge”? I challenge you to sit quietly, somewhere…anywhere, and concentrate on just being there.

It takes practice, and it’s very, very hard to do…but if you can run a road race: a 5K, 10K or marathon, you already have an indomitable spirit to try anything.

I feel like I should make it clear, again, that I am not very good at living in the present. I don’t believe in ghosts…but I’ve certainly been haunted by the events of the past four years. It’s time for all of us to move on…to where we are now.

The Buddhist monk “Thich Nhat Hanh” once wrote that:

“Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.”

I wish I had lived more in the moment, through my past…but that doesn’t mean I can’t do so in my future…and maybe the best way for me to do that is to not worry about it.

Just be.

Links:

Direct link to old episodes of Intervals: http://my.ipadio.com/Settings.aspx?page=58#broadcasts

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song - “Part of Me” was another track off the new album “A Raven Has My Heart” by Black Lab at blacklabworld.com.

FitBit at fitbit.steverunner.com.

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 70 friends and fellow runners:

Today, on Phedippidations I’m going to teach you three things, and I mean REALLY teach you…you can’t flunk this course, and if you already know something (or a lot of things) about wine, then consider this a refresher. Our syllabus is as follows:

In the first chapter I’ll tell you how to taste wine, nothing fancy: just the basics…and I know you probably think this is intuitive, but tasting wine takes practice, as we’ll discuss.

In the second chapter, I’ll tell you three important wine terms that you need to know when talking about wine…and finally

In the third and final chapter, I’ll tell you three rarely used, high level terms and concepts that when used in the right situation, will make those who you are talking to, believe that you are on par with a master sommelier…a wine expert…in other words, just by using these phrases convincingly, you will gain “wine cred”.

The thing about wine is that it’s really, just another thing in the universe to appreciate like music, art and nature. In a way, this episode isn’t about promoting the consumption of wine: I understand all too well that there are many of you out there who can’t stand the taste of the stuff, and others who can’t or won’t drink it…fair enough: but there’s got to be something out there in this incredible universe you can experience on a deeper level. I have many passions, running is just one of them…and so is the topic of wine.

But there’s much more to wine, than just wine…it’s a topic that’s complex and vast covering thousands of years of human history and a globalization that has changed the way that millions of people consume and experience it. You need not be a wine expert to have an opinion about wine…you just need to know a few basic concepts and have a willingness to be open to the experience of wine, from the vineyard to the bottle and the glass. Wine is for geeks, wine is for experts wine is for newbies.

The thing about human beings that strikes me as both wonderful and fascinating: is our capacity for change. If you asked me ten years ago would I ever “own” a dog, I’d have laughed at the notion.

Today, the reality is that I do not “own” Eva…she owns me…or better put, we own and love each other.

Eva Jones is many things: but most of all, most importantly of all: she is, to me: an example of the good animal I could be.

She is a perfect example of love and joy…and she’ll always be that way for me. People change…I’ve changed over the years in some ways for the worse, in some ways for the better…but Eva has…for the past four, been an important constant in my life.

This episode concludes with a eulogy for a friend. The greatest biffer I’ve ever known, and someone who taught me the importance of living your life to the top.

Five dudes drove to Biff-Country in the summer of 2002. They saw moose, canoed, swam, and slept in tents. They ate beans, Dick’s Famous Chicken, pop-corn, jerky, mango, and Reece’s Cups. They skipped rocks, climbed on rocks, jumped off of rocks into a lake, watched stars, the moon, and the Northern Lights, and read Harry Potter around campfires. Then they drove home. It was all in the Biff-Country, and it was awesome. This is their story.

When you elevate something that is not important and dedicate some passion to it, you are living your life to the top. I don’t care what it is: running, playing the guitar, tasting wine, watching a TV show about a mad man in a blue police box flying through space and time, cooking, eating, even podcasting.

I am, and have been since I was a small child, a fan of the Boston Red Sox. The game is one of my passions.

The purpose of this episode; if there was a purpose, was to demonstrate the importance of passion in our lives and to highlight, for those who may not be fans of baseball or of my beloved Boston Red Sox, how it feels to not appreciate or understand another persons passion. I’m not really into movies or theater, I don’t understand someone’s passion for dance, baking, T'ai chi ch’uan, floral arraignment, crochet or scrap-booking…but I can appreciate the passion someone might have for those things, and I’ll keep an open mind for my own possibly developing passion for those things and more.

Life is short, but it should be long enough…and the universe offers us so much to experience, enjoy and be passionate about. Find your passion, whatever it is, and you’ll find your joy.

Play Ball!

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song - “Loud Like Love” was by the band Placebo from London. Find all of their amazing alternative music and videos over at http://placeboworld.co.uk

FitBit at fitbit.steverunner.com.

Intervals between episodes, and Burning 40 updates can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 71 friends and fellow runners:

Today I want to talk about this trend for living like our “Old Stone Age” ancestors. What does recent science say about the benefits of minimalist running and the paleo-diet? Are these practices something that we, as runners, should adopt? Can “Paleo Running” and a “Paleo Diet” help us to live better, healthier lives?

Agriculture was a life changing advancement for early hominids. It allowed us to spend more time together, in ever growing groups, to develop a civilization that would expand to all continents of the planet Earth. You can try to live a Paleolithic, Mesolithic or Neolithic lifestyle if it suits you; but as Thomas Wolfe wrote “You can’t go home again”. We are no longer “hunter gatherers” we are worker runners. By virtue of your listening to this you have embraced a modern technology that our australopithecine ancestors from 2.6 million years ago could never have imagined. I don’t know if we should eat and run like they did…but maybe you were born out of time and might find some benefits to taking Thoreau’s advice to “simplify, simplify simplify”.

We shouldn’t dismiss Paleo eating and running just because it’s the current fad. Like any popular trend we should understand its benefits and try out certain aspects of it in our lives…so unlace your shoes sometime and try a short barefoot run, try avoiding the middle aisles of processed freeze-dried sugar coated consumables when you’re shopping for food and see what happens when you give up bread, rice, potatoes and non-green vegetables for a few weeks. You might channel your inner caveman and improve your health in a stone age way.

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song - Unfamiliar Sky was off the brand new soon to be released album “A Raven Has My Heart” by Black Lab. You’ll be hearing a lot about this album in the months to come. Paul Durham’s music has become kind of the soundtrack of my life. Listen in, love the sounds at http://blacklabworld.com

FitBit at fitbit.steverunner.com.

Intervals between episodes, and Burning 40 updates can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 70 friends and fellow runners:

In the course of our discussion today, we’re going to talk about many things: determination, dedication, will power, and wanting it. What I will not be able to do, is convince you to meet your goal. It wouldn’t matter if I made the most perfect, passionate, logical argument as to why you should train for and run a road race or marathon, why you should climb the tallest mountain, swim the widest ocean, win the most prestigious award or even drop 40 pounds.

I might make you feel guilty for not trying. I might make you feel like a lump of poo because you refuse to rise off your COUCH OF DOOM…but you know how that old saying goes: You can lead a horse to water….but you can’t make him swim the backstroke.

What do you want…and do YOU, whatever YOU are, really want it…or is it, as science seems to suggest, merely a calculated process in the computer that is your brain, giving you the illusion that you want it?

If you say you want something….to finish your first 10K or lose 40 pounds, is it really your decision or is it some biologically programmed expression of “will” that is anything but “free”?

These are good and interesting questions, but the bigger question relative to what we want is this: If we are complex biological computers without free will, can we program ourselves to really want something?

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song - “Arrows of Desire” was by Matthew Good at http://matthewgood.org

FitBit at fitbit.steverunner.com.

Intervals between episodes, and Burning 40 updates can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 73 friends and fellow runners:

This is my response to an article published in the November 12th edition of the “Wall Street Journal” titled “OK, You’re a Runner. Get Over It” by Chad Stafko…and while I’ll try to keep it civil, I can’t promise I won’t lean over the line of anger. What I can promise, both you and Stafko is that I won’t make a single logical fallacy with anything I’ll have to say. The burden of proof in the matter of Stafko vs. Fellow Runners is most completely with Chad: my place here is to merely point out what a really inexcusably bad argument he has made. Keeping it civil will be my secondary priority.

Fat, stupid, lazy…these are just some of the words that best describes the embarrassing Chad Stafko. Today’s episode will not only appease Stafko’s selfish need for attention visa-vi this insulting manifesto…but will demonstrate the complete lack of honesty, logic and rational thought from the pudgy grease stained author.

I have a theory, supported by the hypothesis I will present in this podcast: That Chad Stafko is a sad and deluded person.

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song “Numbers” was by Great Northern find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greatnorthernmusic

FitBit Force at fitbit.steverunner.com.

He Who Listens to Music When He Runs: http://twitter.com/neilbearse

The song “Numbers” was by the band “Great Northern”

Intervals between episodes, and Burning 40 updates can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/ at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But really, PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 75 friends and fellow runners:

I’m here with my family and friends…at place we consider to be the happiest place on earth. This is Key West.

Why this is our happy place is the focus of this episode, and before you get the wrong idea: this show wasn’t sponsored by the Key West Travel Bureau…I understand that many of you have your own personal paradise’s…but this is mine. I’ve only been here once before, about a year ago, in March of 2012, for only three days. Long time listeners to Phedippidations might remember episode 287 titled “Hemingway’s Key and Life to its Top”. We’ll I’m back again, and this time we’re spending a full week.Key West is 129 miles southwest of Miami, and 94 statute miles north of Cuba. The city is smaller than New York’s Central Park and it’s official motto is “One Human Family”.

Mile marker zero of US route 1 is located at 490 Whitehead Street, here in Key West, Florida. It’s the beginning of the road for this major east coast US Highway which runs 2,369 miles (or 3,813 km) all the way north to Fort Kent, Maine…the take out point for those of us who have canoed the Allagash River Waterway in the Northern Maine Woods. Fort Kent was the end of the road for a family camping trip I once cherished; with my Dad, and Nephew John Glenn…you’re welcome to listen to Fdip198 recorded in the summer of 2009 titled “Walking by Henry David Thoreau”…but for me, that’s all in the past. The World has Moved on…and there’s nothing there I care to listen to or dwell upon. Here in Key West I’m marking a new beginning. That so much of my life could changed in the years since I last strapped my canoe to the roof of my Jeep four years ago would have seemed hard to believe back then. But here we are, a few thousand days and miles ago and away: where I’m standing at mile zero of route 1, ready to make a new start, at the beginning of the road…where my Life 2.0 began. The last time I was here I talked to you about Life 2.0; and while I wasn’t really sure where that would lead me…it’s good to be back in Key West…a place that is, for me not only paradise, but the starting line for a new challenge and change. I’m going to become Steve Runner, again. Links: Go there: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g34345-Key_West_Florida_Keys_Florida-Vacations.html FitBit Force at fitbit.steverunner.com. Thank the music guy: http://twitter.com/neilbearse The song “Key West Address” was by James Slater at http://www.jamestslater.com Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/ at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/ ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 75 friends and fellow runners: William, Vera, Katie, Heather, Ryan, Chaise, Gordon, Scott, Mike, David, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Cheryl, Ron, Mark, Martha, Greg, Jim, Tim, Bill, Michael, David, Doug, Vance, Marcelo, Roberto, Zaki, Jan, Margaret, James, Norm, Simon, Albert, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Teresa, Glenn, Trey, Steve, John, Angie, Al, Toni, Martin, Lynn, Nancy, Eric, Claudia, Jim, Kara, Robert, Dino, Joe, Martin, Rich, Sarah, Tom, David, Pierre, Maria, Hisham, Andrea, Matt, Jen, Lou, Shari, Brad, Dave, Desiree, Joan and one Anonymous fellow runner! THANK YOU! {http://support.steverunner.com} Follow me on: Blog: http://steverunnerblog.com Stream: http://stitcher.steverunner.com Apple App: http://iapp.steverunner.com Android App: http://android.steverunner.com Support: http://support.steverunner.com

I see the act of running as a pathway to a special state of consciousness that allows us to "expose and undo our hidden fears and hopes", to "befriend who we are are".

Doctor George Sheehan knew alot about this...but you have to really listen carefully to what he's actually saying in order to understand.

I'm about to read from you one of the most controversial, in my opinion anyway, chapters of his now classic book "Running and Being - The Total Experience" published by Second Wind II LLC. It’s a book that you simply must own.

The chapter I’ll read is titled "Meditating"...and as you start to listen to it many of your are going to disagree completely with his premise.

That's why you have to listen carefully...you have to think about what he's saying and look for yourself in those words. He begins talking about the importance of solitude and how, on the road, we remove ourselves from the influence of both love and hate. On the surface, that seems somehow selfish and anti-social; and to that Dr. Sheehan will agree, but not in the way you might think.

When you run...YOU run. You take your heart, mind and soul...whatever YOU really are...and you use it. The meditation comes when distractions are minimized. Pema Chodron is absolutely correct: meditation allows you to "befriend who we are" and running allows you some time to meditate.

It's not easy...that's why those practiced in the art of meditation can sit quietly and comfortably, and not think, just be. In this chapter, Doctor Sheehan is making the case that this solitary experience of "being" can come to you while you're running. This is why such meditation is part of the total experience, of "running and being”.

Links:

THE BOOK YOU MUST OWN: "Running and Being - The Total Experience" published by Second Wind II LLC

The MVP of music: http://neilbearse.com

The song “Runaways” was lead single from the fourth album “Battle Born” by The Killers. Follow the band on twitter @thekillers

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/ at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 72 friends and fellow runners:

While faith is, by definition, unwavering; scientific understanding often and sometimes frequently changes, as new observations about our universe are uncovered and demonstrated.

Conventional wisdom, those faith sourced ideas that are so greatly accepted that they go unquestioned, is an oxymoron...that is, a conjoining contradictory term. In the case of running shoes and pronation we have long accepted the idea that:

neutral or cushioned shoes are helpful for those with high arches, stability shoes are best for those who over-pronote moderately and motion control shoes are best for runners with low arches and moderate to severe over-pronation.

But the latest science...that is, the most recent clinical, organized observations, show that this is not true.

Critics against science will point to the ever changing theories and hypothesis that make the practice untrustfull and suspicious, while those with deep religious convictions will point out how their belief is something does not change in light of new evidence.

54% of American’s believe that human beings have evolved into our present form over millions of years, and that we have descended from other animals and life forms, such as the the Bonobo and Chimpanzee, who we split off from, in the family tree of humanity, only 7 million years ago. The conventional knowledge in this area has changed frequently since Darwin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species” in 1859”.

46% of American’s believe in the Abrahamic account of human creation, and consider the idea of God creating humans 10,000 years ago a “creationist science”. Lacking significant evidence and despite the increasing proof to the contrary, these people rely on faith, rather than science, to prove their point.

So that’s an example of where science and faith “butt heads”, and the discussion will go on and on; just as the discussion about pronation and the perfect running shoe will continue as new studies and investigations uncover new evidence and findings to better inform and educate those of us who seek to unravel the paradox of pronation.

Oxford Massachusetts is typical quaint New England Village, in the Heart of Central Massachusetts that remains, after 300 years, a quaint country town with a long American history.

The Europeans settlers from France and England were not the first to live here; but since it’s founding the town has managed to maintain both it’s charm and terroir; a less known gem in the commonwealth of Massachusetts and a place that I call home.

Last month, on July 31st, Massachusetts state representatives Paul Frost and Ryan Fattman announced that Bill H.3465, “an Act validating the date of incorporation of the Town of Oxford” had been passed.

“Nothwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the date of July 8, 1713 is hereby ratified and confirmed and declared the legal and valid date of incorporation of the Town of Oxford.”

With this episode I’m off and running on my 9th year of podcasting. Did I think that I’d still be at it after all this time? To be honest I didn’t really think about it...I just kept on producing the shows. Clearly, this isn’t the same Phedippidations that it was back in 2005...alot has changed with the writing, recording, production, sound quality, processing, sound effects, music sounders and beds...not to mention the changes in the life of the host. We homo sapiens are funny when it comes to change, and I’m not talking about “Funny Ha Ha”. I think to a certain extent, many of us go through the course of our lives in blissful or less denial on the topic of change...I know I’m guilty of that...so I’ll speak for myself. Intellectually I understand that change is constant, but in my heart I try to ignore that truth. I have always preferred to belive that I live in a secure, understandable, familiar and unchanging life and lifestyle...but that’s a fantasy...the truth is that every day and every hour brings change. The way to become happy in life, is to be mindful of this change. Parents with young children experience such change to the extreme. Those of you with new born and young kids must cherish these moments...for when I warn you that they will pass by much faster than you can possibly imagine, you have to belive me. I don’t mean to bum you out...but almost literally tomorrow your babies will be full fledged adults, and you’ll have the nest to yourselves...it’s a little freaky at first, but it gets better...it really does. It’s these transitions in our lives that shock and awe us...but they shouldn’t. I’m talking about our “fear of change” here, something that the buddist nun Pema Chodron writes about in her book “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times” She writes: “We’re always trying to deny that it’s a natural occurrence that things change, that the sand is slipping through our fingers. Time is passing. It’s as natural as the seasons changing and day turning into night. But getting old, getting sick, losing what we love—we don’t see those events as natural occurrences. We want to ward off that sense of death, no matter what. When we have reminders of death, we panic. It isn’t just that we cut our finger, blood begins to flow, and we put on a Band-Aid. We add something extra—our style. Some of us just sit there stoically and bleed all over our clothes. Some of us get hysterical; we don’t just get a Band-Aid, we call the ambulance and go to the hospital. Some of us put on designer Band-Aids. But whatever our style is, it’s not simple. It’s not bare bones. Can’t we just return to the bare bones? Can’t we just come back? That’s the beginning of the beginning. Bare bones, good old self. Bare bones, good old bloody finger. Come back to square one, just the minimum bare bones. Relaxing with the present moment, relaxing with hopelessness, relaxing with death, not resisting the fact that things end, that things pass, that things have no lasting substance,that everything is changing all the time...” She’s right of course...I’m hardly an enlightened soul, but I do understand that everything is changing all the time...and that includes Phedippidations. I’ve recieved thousands of comments about this show over the years, and one of the common subject lines mentions a listeners unhappiness with the many changes that I’ve made with the show. I cannot, and will not apologize for that, because it’s not something that I have control over...part of the reason I have no control over this is because we’re going through a journey here, together. Like it or not, you’ve been listening not only to my rambling diatribes and presentation of road races and running related topics...but you’ve been listening to the story of my life, and the lives of my friends and family. I could have made a better effort to sheild you from all that...having worked in commercial radio broadcasting, I know first hand how the private lives of Dee-Jays and Talk Show Hosts are often hidden from the audience. But I didn’t want to do that here, because this is a conversation for and about runners. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Too many of the professional and corporate production houses who have entered this space...as I knew they one day would...continue to follow the tired, old way of broadcasting content. Many or most are afraid of being complely open and honest, and until they do...they’re always just going to be a radio show pretending to be a podcast...or netcast...or RSS driven audio enclosure....whatever you want to call it. Can we agree that the “pod” in “podcasting” is no longer relevent? As my life has changed, this show has changed. As this show has changed, our relationship as host and listener has changed...and I like to think that this change is, or will be, for the better. Someone asked me recently “How long will you continue to produce Phedippidations”...and there is an answer to that: “until I’m finished”. That could mean until I’m physically unable to produce the show, or it could mean until I’ve reached the end of our journey together...it doesn’t really matter. I’ll miss you, you might miss me...but rest assured, somewhere up ahead of us in the near or far flung future, is the last episode of this podcast. We should find comfort in that as we should find comfort in all the alpha and omega moments of our lives. When Ani Pema Chodron suggests that we return to the “bare bones” in our response to change, she is suggesting that we live for the moment, every moment...that we learn to relax and not resist the fact that change is constant and that everything comes to an end. Nothing in our lives remains the same, ever...so if you like something, hell...if you LOVE something or someone, an experience you’re having or once had...cherish that thing, person or moment, now...right now...and relax...be better for the experience and move on as the world moves on. And yes, I am the pot pointing out that the kettle is of a darkened hue...but as runners we have an opportunity to think deeply about change...change in our lives, change in our friends and families lives...and even something as goofy as the changes with a podcast.

Over the years, I have spoken to you about all of the many benifits as to why running is good for you. I’ve talked about the physical, psychological and even the spiritual benefits of this sport...but

I’ve also tried to get across this point: that running is just one of the ways to improve your health, increase your level of happiness and extend the duration of your life. I’ve told you that “Runners are special” but I’ve always been quick to admit that I’m not saying we’re better than non-runners...we’re just different. Think about some of the times you’ve run incredibly long distances, or gotten your miles in during a blizzard or heat wave...some might call us crazy, I prefer the word “special”.

But obviously there are other physical activities that can bring you similar benefits: for the purpose of today’s discussion we will consider the act of walking. And the question to be asked and answered here is simply this: which is better for you, running or walking?

Now, look...let’s be reasonable...I have dedicated the last 8 years of my life...over 300 episodes answering the question with the choice to run. I call myself “Steve Runner” I have drawers full of running Tee-Shirts and boxes of old running shoes that I keep hidden in my attick for the “Steve Runner Memorial Library” by grandaughters will no doubt, one day open...but if we’re going to consider Running versus Walking...we’d better turn to “SCIENCE”.

It was on April 19th, in the year of our Lord 2000, that I first registered the domain name of SteveRunner.com.

It wasn’t my idea. It was that of a good friend of mine, Jim, who I had attended the University of Lowell with in the early 1980’s, and worked with for over 20 years.

It was on that 19th day of April, 13 years ago that he suggested I reserve a domain name for my running blog.

I had been posting my running related essays on a website hosted at CompuServe, but the only way you could read my running words was if you knew the complicated numerical universal resource locator that pointed to it.

Today, I’d like to read for you some of the essays I wrote back then. They are written from the perspective of a new and very enthusiastic runner of 38 years old.

We are quite often oblivious to the way our lives change, and how we change through the year. Your perspective will vary, but for me: 13 years wasn’t all that long ago.

It was the peak of the Dot Com bubble, President Clinton was serving his last year in office, and I had just lost over 50 pounds. Running had become one of my greatest passions. I had started in December of ’98, ran my first marathon in October of ’99 and now I had a blog where I could write about the experience. Inspired and enlightened by the cardiologist, fellow runner, philosopher and author, Dr. George Sheehan...I began writing about my running lifestyle and how it had brought me joy.

My life has changed drastically since I first created the SteveRunner.com website. The essays you’ll hear today are from a person who no longer exists, a younger version of myself that was filled with hope, excitement, opptomism and enthusiam for the act of running.

This isn’t to say that I’m worse off today than I was back then...it’s just that I never expected to be where I am today; none of us do. Go back into your own 13 year old past and it’s likely that you’ll experience the same revelation. You aren’t who and where you expected to be.

Life is an uncharted, unscripted reality. It’s not always dramatic, and it’s not all sad or happy endings. We lace up our shoes and we open our squeaky doors to roads that lead to an unknowable future. Who you are today is nothing at all like the who you’ll be in ten, twenty or even thirty years, God willing.

One thing is for sure, that despite your best plans, despite whatever goals you’re aiming for; when and if you get there...everything will be different.

This is who I was 13 years ago....what I was thinking about, what I was writing about. It’s a revealing and personal cause for introspection...but it’s also an example for you to contemplate your long ago and far to come.

Links:

Hark the Herald Boom-Box sings: http://neilbearse.com

Featured Site of the Run: http://run366project.blogspot.com

The song “Stereo” was by “The Watchmen”

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/ at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

PHEDIPPIDATIONS SITE OF THE RUN: http://run366project.blogspot.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But PLEASE, only if you can afford it!) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 68 friends and fellow runners:

The Cinco Loco was a never to be duplicared in the history of the universe event; a run with a unique group of good people who came together to share their time; to be there for a friend who had lost his precious child, to be there at the finish line of an event that hatred tried to ruin; to celebrate the friendships that we had made on line, through podcasts and the social media tubes of the Interwebs...and to enjoy a victory cupcake, in person, together...side by side, in the flesh...real people, real friends and fellow runners.

We all wish you could have been here; and we look forward to the day when we will: standing at an arbitrary starting line to run some arbitrary distance, without earbuds, downloads and RSS subscriptions, without tweets, and facebook updates or blog posts...but in person, you and I and some incredibly cool people.

That is the spirit of the Mojo Loco movement...that’s what’s real, significant and important.

We should run together, at the same time in the same place at some point during our brief lives. Because that’s all that matters. You and I are friends and fellow runners, but as I said before: our friendship is confirmed and reinforced upon meeting each other in physical person.

If we are to make the world a better place, we have to promote respect, admiration and friendship with people all over the world. Runners have a special way of doing that, because it doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, what you belive in, how you dress, what you look like, how old you are, or any of the other wonderful and infinite persuasions that define you: we have this one thing in common; we run...and that physical act can be the rock solid foundation for a friendship that can make the world understand and appreciate each other, and bring us all together.

I wish you had been here, and I hope that one day we’ll go our for a run.

There’s a certain amount of pride that I have, in saying that. But the truth is, we’re all from Boston. Boston...is more than just a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...for runners like you and I, it’s a idea...it’s a place where dreams come true.

The course from the Hopkinton Bandstand to Boylston Street is more than just a paved roadway...it’s a course. Wherever you’re hearing me right now, that course is connected to you. When you lace up your shoes and open your own squeaky front door, you’re taking to the same road, on the same planet as I. The phrase “Think Global, Run Local” has never been so true as it was on the afternoon of April 15th, Patriots Day...a day of heros.

I am now going to say something that is well overdue...I’m going to admit that I was wrong about something. I’m wrong about alot of things, but I’m stubborn too, I’m a cranky New Englander...but when faced with the truth...I have no alternative but to accept my our fault.

I once said, on this podcast, that it doesn’t take courage to run, in fact I dedicated an entire episode to that silly notion back in December of 2008, episode 166 “It’s Not About Courage”.

In that episode I said that “Just because someone says that it takes courage for you to run your first mile, does not make it so. It does not make noble the action by affixing such terms to explain how you came to be.”

Fellow runners, don’t you belive that. I was wrong, and I apologize with all my heart.

You know how much the Boston Marathon means to me; you know how much this city means to me...but the fact is, that we all have courage...the first responders, the fire, police and emergency crews who responded at risk to their own lives, and the many, MANY fellow runners who did exactly what any of you would have done: we are indomitable, we overcome pain, we use our bodies as they were meant to be used, and we sacrifice for the good of this world.

It is about courage, afterall. When you take to the road, you’re becoming a hero...a hero who would gladly help other runners by passing out bottles of water, a hero who would walk into a little burger joint near the finish line and grab a couple of big trash bags to give to a complete stranger for warmth, a hero who would risk being with other people in an area where the attacks took place, as a way to offer fellowship and comfort.

Oh, yes, there are so many hero’s in our community...so many fellow runners willing to sacrifice, help and fight for what’s right. The cowardly terrorists who dropped those backpacks with pressure cooker bombs thought they could scare you, they thought they could end the marathon, frighten the world and send a message of hatred that would force us to cower in the darkness.

All they did was kill and hurt some good people, and make a bloody mess of Boylston Street. There’s a concept in physics discovered by Sirl Issac Newton as his third law of motion.

“Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem”

To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction

Fellow runners, we could be heros. We could respond to this act of terror, with acts of heroism; armed with, as weapons, kindness, respect, sacrifice and wave after wave of love.

Of course it takes courage to run, it’s something that those who would stop us most clearly don’t understand. Instead of defeating us on Boylston Street, the terrorist’s empowered us all over the world, to set postive examples for others on how to be good animals, better people, and brave heros.

Links:

On Monday, May 5th, join my friends and fellow runners, and I, in Boston as we celebrate the life of Jacob Tinkoff and run to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. We are waves of love, and Boston Strong: el Cinco Loco: http://cincoloco.steverunner.com

Thanks for the music: http://neilbearse.com

The song “All Roads Lead Home” was by Golden State at http://iamgoldenstate.com/

Intervals between episodes can be found at steverunnerblog.com

In Vino Veritas with http://www.coachjeff.com.au/ at http://www.thewinechatpodcast.com/

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But only if you can afford it) Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind and sincerely generous financial support of 66 friends and fellow runners:

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.

The Buddah

The world is a better place for the life of a young man by the name of Jacob Tinkoff.

If you haven’t heard, it breaks my heart to tell you of this worlds loss of my friend Adam Tinkoff’s son, Jacob.

No parent should have to endure such tragedy alone. So now you know, and now together, we mourn.

Jacob, or Jake to his friends, was a good, kind and sweet young man.

He was also a passionately talented musician. He was an accomplished string bassist.

The music you'll hear on this podcast was from a series of youtube videos Adam had posted over the past few yeasr, featuring Jacob playing bass in his orchestra.

Not long ago, Adam spoke to me about the very real and powerful phenomenon of creating waves of love and joy in the world.

As humans, we create content, thoughts and beauty...which spread out like ripples in a pond, touching the hearts and souls of other people, who in turn are inspired, or infused with a need to create their own positive waves of love and joy.

The Buddha said “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.”

These waves of light, love and beauty are generated by a single source, and spread throughout the universe of people in ways that we can hardly understand, but are deeply effected by...and as long as that light shines, as long as that love propagates, the life of the source cannot be shortened.

Jacob Tinkoff is a beautiful soul, who has touched the lives of many people...and today, through this music, his love will touch you and change you in meaningful and subtle waves.

“To Write Love on Her Arms” is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.

Adam and his family asks that in lieu of flowers you make a donation "To Write Love On Her Arms".

You can find them online at http://twloha.com

Please keep Jacob, Adam and the Tinkoff family in your prayers.

The Buddha wrote that:

“All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”

How fast can the fastest human being run? We know that Usain Bolt of Jamacia ran at a top speed of 27.78 miles per hour (44.72 km/h) between the 60 to 80 meter segment of the 100 meter sprint in 1.61 seconds on August 16th, 2009 at the Berlin World Championships.

But what I want to know, is how fast could the fastest human being ever really run. I’m not talking about Usain...the guy is amazing...but we are human beings, and we have evolved with this particular physicolgy. What would it take for one of us to run the fastest that is possible as a member of our species? It turns out that, according to the latest science, there are two contending factors which affect the speed of human beings: first the amount of force that our bodies can handle as we smash our limbs upon the ground, and second the speed at which our muscles can contract and pull on our tendons. Only one of these is the primary factor, and it will become obvious as we go through the science which matters most.

We need to consider the mechanics here to come up with a theoretical limit to human speed, and as we do you need to keep Usain Bolt’s 28 miles per hour in mind.

This is an episode about the theoretical limits to the speed of a human being. The answer to “How Fast Can We Run”, as a species, may surprise you!

If you’re a new runner, or know someone who is...or even if you are a runner who has packed away your running shoes because you’re in some kind of a slump, or gave up running due to reasonable health reasons...I’m here to tell you that you are not alone.

You’re not the first runner to quit, and you won’t be the last.

I know, because I’ve been there...and todays epsiode of Phedippidations is a shout of encouragement...it’s my attempt to say to you that even if you’ve hung up your shoes: you’re not a quitter. Stop thinking of your running in terms of that. Whatever your goals are..whatever the reason it was that made you first lace up your shoes...they’re still valid reasons; the only thing you really have to do is change those short term goals into long term goals...and recognize the signs of improvement.

You really are, a runner. Sometimes we don’t feel that way, sometimes we feel like giving up, crawing into our darkened subterrainan dens and disassociating ourselves from that aweful activity...but if we can think it through clearly, and unwrinkle our damaged souls...we’ll all realize that we have evolved to be runners, and that happiness can be found in accepting that truth and becoming what we were meant to be.

I’ve had alot of time to think about how I’d conclude, this: my 300th episode...and I guess it makes sense for me to briefly comment on something I said in episode 1: When I talked about the horrible feeling of dropping the ball and losing the 1977 championship baseball game of the Weymouth Farm League for my team, The Red Barons. The essay I wrote and read was my way of explaining why, after that crushing loss, I sought to involve myself only in sports that celebrated individual achievement. I wrote: “It's probably no coincidence that I've never played in a team sport since. I chose, instead, to direct my athletic attentions to the Cross Country and Track teams, as well as the individual medley events on the swim team. I involved myself in sports that didn't require team camaraderie; I selected athletics that rewarded individual success without the dependency of others.” Seven years and 300 episodes later; I’ve come to realize how wrong I was....that this sport I love so much, this running is one that depends on camaraderie, it thrives on the dependency of others, it improves with friendship. We’re all going to experience bad days. Life is pain...but life is also filled with such beauty and hope. As runners, we share a common experience and this is not something we should keep for ourselves...there’s no good that can come by keeping for ourselves. I have a New Hope...a certain longing for a better world, a dream that we can all be happy, healthy and loved. John Lennon wrote that he was a dreamer...but he’s not the only one...Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about his dream for justice and equality, Mahatma Ghandi wrote "What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope." Running, as with life, is not an individual sport. It is my new hope that you and I can inspire others to become fellow runners...to become better human beings and friends. For my part, I’ll use Phedippidations to promote that agenda. I may drop the ball from time to time, but this is no longer an individual sport, and with you on my team...our new hope will become a new reality. I’m Steve Runner, reminding you to run long and taper.

The next episode of Phedippidations is a celebration of this podcast and the community of which it is a part...we’re celebrating not because of anything I've ever recorded, presented or produced...but because you stepped up and said you would participate...that you’d jam some ear buds in your head and at least go for a run with me....whether you've been listening since episode one or if this is your first; the honor to run with you is mine. Thank you for that honor, for being a friend and a fellow runner. Links:

“Further” by Long-View http://www.longviewmusic.com "Baby Can I Hold You" by Tracy Chapman

Get some social perspective: http://neilbearse.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: (But only if you can afford it) Phedippidations is supported every month through the very kind and sincerely generous financial support of 51 fellow runners:

Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs are a class of medicine used to reduce fever and treat acute or chronic conditions where pain and inflammation are present. They are used, generally for the relief of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, inflammatory arthropathies, gout, menstrual pain, headaches, post operative pain, and fever.

BUT…NSAID’s are effective for the relief of pain…as runners we know this. As runners many or most of us rely on ibuprofen or naproxen sodium to recover from injuries. So what does science tell us about the efficacy of Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs?

Love, is a many splendored thing, it’s all that matters, it’s all around, it moves in mysterious ways, it’s the answer, it makes no promises, it’s blind, you can’t buy it, it’s not for sale, it takes it toll, you can’t hurry it, it’s not a game, it’s a battlefield, it will keep us together, you can’t help falling in it, it doesn’t ask why, it hurts, and: “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that”.

Whatever “that” is.

As runners, we say that we “love to run”, as husbands, wives and partners we most certainly love our significant others, we love people, friends, family, parents, children, all creatures great and small, and we love things…our magical revolutionary iThings, good wine, our running shoes, our town, our little blue bubble in space…and of course, we love more ethereal things such as situations and experiences.

But what is this thing called love? When the alien robot overlords invade our planet, and they ask about this emotional connection we have to people, things and experiences…what will we tell them?

Links:

October 27th and 28th: Join us for the http://worldwidefestivalofraces.wordpress.com

The song “Tomorrow” was by Black Lab off their album “Unplugged”. It’s one of my all time favorite albums and I HIGHLY recommend it: Go to http://blacklabworld.com Please help Kim fight CANCER: http://ogden.kintera.org/kimcowart “Love gives us a fairy tale”: http://neilbearse.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported every month through the very kind and sincerely generous financial support of 39 fellow runners:

It’s been almost two years since I produced an episode of this goofy little podcast featuring the thoughts and words of a man I admire a great deal: Dr. George Sheehan. There’s no specific reason for that…episode 258 titled “Dr. George Sheehan: Seeing” was my reading of the final chapter of his book “Running and Being – The Total Experience”, probably his best known work.

Cardiologist, Philosopher, author and record setting marathoner, Dr. George Sheehan was diagnosed, in 1986, with inoperable prostate cancer. By the time it was discovered, it had already spread to his bones. He fought with the disease for seven years, living each day to it’s top. His last book “Going the Distance: One Man’s Journey to the end of his life” was all about the experience of dying from the perspective of a runner…or better put, someone like us who sees value in our life and accepts pain, sweat and exhaustion as a way to live well.

“Going the Distance” was published shortly after his death.

Today I’m going to read for you a chapter from this book titled “Facing the Future”. We seem to talk about death quite a bit on this podcast, which means that at least during your listening of such episodes as Fdip286 “The Rationality of Fear and Road Races”, you and I are exploring the idea of death. I maintain that death is not something that we can rationally fear: and Dr. Sheehen agrees.

You can find a copy of “Going the Distance” on Amazon.com I’ll have the link in the show notes.

I really feel that this chapter is one that you should be listening to when you’re out on the road getting your miles in, if possible. I understand that some of you can’t do that, but if you can…I want to urge you to hold off on listening further until you’re lacing up your shoes and opening up your own squeaky front door.

This is a chapter about pain and the agonizing pursuit of the self. It’s a deeply personal chapter that reveals a lot of the inner philosophy that Dr. Sheehan held dear. He talks about religion, his perception of Christ, and about his life, beyond death, facing the future.

Links:

Join us for the http://worldwidefestivalofraces.wordpress.com

The song “All My Days” was by Alexi Murdoch off the album “Time Without Consequence” http://www.aleximurdoch.com

When we contemplate those elements of our origins, personality and physical being…we have to consider our genetic history, the environment in which we were raised and live and, the behavior and stories of those who influenced our lives.

I come from a long line of farmers and fishermen, hard working people who worked the land and sea….growing potatoes, milking cows and living off the natural resources of a picturesque island named after the fourth son of King George the third, the father of Queen Victoria, and the Duke of Kent and Strathearn: Prince Edward. I am descended from dedicated, persistent laborers with indomitable spirits and everlasting endurance: who cleared rocky fields, sailed rough seas and overcame obstacles that we would consider enormous. They met adversity with acceptance, fortitude and faith. My ancestors were Scottish Catholics, devoted to their God and each other. They had names like Angus, Theresa, Peter, Mary, Sarah, James, Donald, Ellen, Penelope, Allan, Johanna, Pius, Helena, and Glen. They were Maritimers from Down East: They lived on a beautiful island between the Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of Lawrence. Immigrating to the suburbs of Boston, where they came to work and raise their families. I am the 6th generation of a family of Scottish Catholic immigrants to the New World.

All that I am, all that I have, all that I trust, believe in and follow are a result of those people who raised me, encouraged me, and gave me the opportunity to succeed.

My parents, grandparents, Aunts and Uncles are my role models because of the way they were raised, and influenced by their parents, grand parents and long past ancestors who came to the new world from the old. I owe them everything; and in so many ways I live my life in honor of theirs. Who are you? My guess is that we have a lot in common. As fellow runners you take to the road in honor and celebration of those who made you who you are today. It’s not a genetic thing, it’s an inspirational thing…it’s the stories of the people who lived their lives, overcoming adversity and setting a positive example for all of us.

These are our forerunners, the people who would go on to raise parents who would one day raise us: and we owe them everything.

Links:

The song “Prince Edward Island (Is Heaven to Me)” was performed by Mac Wiseman with words and music by Harold Breau. You can find the tune on iTunes.

Some of the traditional island music heard in this episode was from a live concert in Charlottetown performed by the Chaissons, featuring Tim Chaisson at http://timchaisson.com

This episode celebrates the 7th anniversary of this podcast, the first episode of which was published on Independence Day, July 4th of the year 2005.

As you’d expect, my life is very different today than it was back then, in many ways better, in other ways…different; but I’m not complaining. This is Life 2.0; the world has moved on, and so have we all.

One major point of improvement in my life is the many friends I have been so fortunate to make, as a direct result of this goofy little podcast.

There have been days, sometimes weeks, where I haven’t felt like stepping up to the microphone. There have been days and weeks when I haven’t felt like running. The thing is; with your friendship, kindness and support: I’ve been inspired to run and motivated to podcast…to share with you my thoughts, opinions, observations and yes: even the tidbit details of my life; because when you run together you share something special…and even though this is a digital audio reproduction of my voice, somewhere in the world right now, some of our fellow runners are out on the road, getting their miles in and sharing the experience.

Conversations, Meditations, and Explorations for and about runners.

Phedippidations isn’t dead, but what it was seven years ago is but a ghost of what it has become.

Thank you for running with me this far; but we’re not even half way there, and we have a long…long way to go.

The universe is different for runners, because we have a far more personal relationship with it. Non-runners can jump on a bike, in a car, on a boat, strap themselves into a plane or a rocket, and discuss the many miles they’ll travel in shorter periods of time: but a runner has to work at it. A runner has to take her or his own body, with only the fuel pumping through our own blood streams across the distances of miles and many miles…we are creatures who move under our own power across distances that many of our species no longer treks through. This is kind of a big deal. I wanted to talk to you about space and time because when you’re out there, on the road, you are running across a beautiful blue planet that every form of life we have ever known about, has ever lived upon. We assume that there is life on other worlds, but we don’t know that for certain. What we do know for certain is that we have this one life, limited by a short duration, and we can chose to live it without passion, just getting through our days, waiting until it’s eventual end: or we can BURN, we can savor each moment, find joy in small moments every day, and live our lives to the absolute top. I propose we chose the latter. I say we burn, that we shine as blinding lights for others, making the universe just a little bit better than it was before we got here, and letting our light shine brightly, blindingly on others, inspiring them to live their own lives to the top, not with fear or envy and sadness, but with true joy: joy for having this time, this short, sweet time, to live and love and dance and run and drink it all in like a Grand Crus Bordeaux, because life is too short to drink cheap wine and far too precious to wallow in gloom. I’m not telling you something you don’t already know. But if this podcast meant anything to you, I hope you’ll think deeply about your place in the universe and the incredibly wonderful opportunity you have, as living, breathing matter; as a part of the universe that has evolved to know itself, and how great it is to be alive. Burn fellow runners, burn like the stars we are born from, burn like you’ve only got 0.16 seconds of life to live, and burn through the disappointment, pain, suffering, sadness, and exhaustion that you will experience: because this is our time, now…today, and this is the only time you’ll ever get on this side of the mortal coil to be a good animal, to achieve true happiness and to savor the time of your life. Links: http://visav.phys.uvic.ca/~babul/AstroCourses/P303/BB-slide.htm http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/what-is-time/ http://www.eliserd.com http://nutritionsuccess.org http://www.irunnerblog.com/category/nutrition-nerd/ Happenings: June 16th: Liberty Loco –http://arunningskeptic.blogspot.com July 7th – 8th – The Run For Stone - http://www.runforstone.blogspot.com SEE NEIL BLOG, BLOG NEIL, BLOG: http://neilbearse.com ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported every month through the very kind and sincerely generous financial support of 24 fellow runners: Vera, Katie, Heather, Ryan, Jan, Chaise, Andie, Gordon, Scott, Mike, David, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Manuel, Mark, Martha, Greg, Jim, Maddy, Tim, Bill and Kevin. THANK YOU! {http://support.steverunner.com} Follow me on: Blog: http://steverunnerblog.com Twitter: http://twitter.steverunner.com Facebook: http://facebook.steverunner.com Plus: http://plus.steverunner.com Pinterest: http://pinterest.steverunner.com Stream: http://stitcher.steverunner.com Jux: http://jux.steverunner.com Apple App: http://iapp.steverunner.com Android App: http://android.steverunner.com Support: http://support.steverunner.com

You’re out on a five mile run, the sun is setting and the stars are beginning to shine. You are traveling a measureable distance across a tiny blue bubble in space that has been in existence for 4.5 billion years within a universe that was created out of nothing 13.7 billion years ago.

It would be easy to feel small.

If you took the time to contemplate your short life and insignificant size…you could easily ask yourself the questions “Why am I here?” “What is the point of my existence?” “Would the Universe miss me if I was suddenly gone”?

The answers will come to you eventually, but when I’ve asked myself those very same questions over the past year: my answers seemed clear to me:

I am here to observe and be observed. The point and purpose of my existence is to make the universe that I observe better… and the Universe would not care if I was suddenly gone…but the Universe doesn’t care about anything…unless, of course you’re talking about other people, people who I care about and who care about me…because the fact is that you and I, are a part of the universe.

Links: The RELATIVE size of planets and stars: http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

Running the Groton Road Race was like running with an old friend I had never actually met, with one friend I had met before and another I’ve known for years through the running community of which I am a part. This was our pack. Not in the lead, nor all the way at the back…but a pack of three friends running 6.2 miles through a beautiful colonial New England town. Alett, John and I could have run at our own pace; we could have run with the goal of setting our own PR’s and attacking the course to the very best of our abilities…but for the three of us, good conversation and camaraderie was the goal for the day…and we ran together as friends, fellow runners…and most of all, as a pack. Links: http://runnewengland.blogspot.com/ http://www.runrunlive.com/ http://4feetrunning.blogspot.com/ http://grotonroadrace.com/ On Twitter: @petfxr @johnvaughn @painternik @misterfonzie @cyktrussell “A Dogs Purpose” By W. Bruce Cameron Happenings: June 16th: Liberty Loco –http://arunningskeptic.blogspot.com

Whip it, Whip it social! (Networking this is): http://neilbearse.com

ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported every month through the very kind and sincerely generous financial support of 16 fellow runners: Jan, Chaise, Andie, Gordon, Scott, Mike, David, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Greg, Jim, Maddy, Tim and Bill: THANK YOU! {http://donate.steverunner.com}

We should be proud of we are, and act as a positive examples for others: but at the same time remain wary of vanity – because while we are certainly worthy of having pride in our actions and through our running: we’re not all that, and a bag of chips.

This is a story of passion, determination and guts in a marathon road race that is very much like the one you may have, or may one day run. It’s a story that demonstrates the importance of experience, the rage against physical limits and the strength…of youth.

This was Ernest Hemingway, a man who inspired his readers to stand up against facists and bullies, while in many ways he tended to be somewhat of a bully himself. Hemingway lived his life to the fullest, and set an example to everyone who knew him to turn to nature, both on land and sea.

Treadmilling is not a bad thing. But I think everyone listening to me understands that given the choice between running in place for an hour within your home, or at a gym and moving outside, under the sky, within the elements and across the ever-changing terrain of your place: the more significant way to exercise is the one that lets you better experience the world around you.

I was born at exactly 7:48 PM Eastern Standard Time in the maternity ward of Milton Hospital on Reedsdale Road and Highland Street in the town of Milton, Massachusetts on January 19th, 1962.

Turning 50 feels good, because it’s good to be alive. The milestone reminds me to take a walk break in this race, and turn to look behind me to see how far I’ve come. The past 50 years of life included great joy, terrible sadness, and the agony and ecstasy of blood, sweat and tears…but I wouldn’t trade any of it.

Regrets I have, many in fact: but those regrets are all part of a life well lived: a life, lived to its top.

When oenophiles think about wine, they rarely consider the sport of running with regards to it’s enjoyment; and when runners consider our passion for moving our bodies through space: the topic of wine is not chief among our hydration strategies. Yet these two areas of interest have their complementary intersections.

In this epsiode we'll visit some "Cool Races in Beautiful Places" where wine grapes are grown.

In the summer of 1975 I was a 13 year old skinny, big eared, pimply-faced teenager with a frown full of braces and a head filled with big ideas. This was the first time I had ever been able to express my creativity to an audience greater than my immediate family, it was the first time I took a thought and converted it into something for others to experience. My words, my story, my imagines, my voice and that of my friends Andy and James…we created a movie that entertained our family, friends and neighborhood for one magical night in the summer of seventy-five: The Summer of the Shark.

In order to start the conversation that plants the seed of an idea into someone’s head that they might want to begin the process to adopt the running life style, you need the right ammunition: you need to commit to memory at least a handful of logical arguments that will make your proposal effective and produce results.

“To be or not to be?”, that is only the second question we have to ask ourselves: the first is: Are we? or Are we not? Do we exist or is this all just a dream?

Descartes had something to say about all this, and it’s to Descartes that we will go, as we begin to contemplate that one thing that makes us appreciate the way it feels to run across the Earth, to feel the sweat, effort and joy of getting our miles in and moving these bodies that we either are or inhabit. Descarte can help us begin the process of understanding why, as we run a race or by ourselves on the open road: we feel, very much alive.

In this episode I present for you an abridged for podcast version of Henry David Thoreau’s essay “A Walk to Wachusett”.

As you listen to these words, think about the excursion you might make wherever you live; knowing that you could cover the distance on a long run, but instead taking the time to walk and explore the world around you.

This is one of the great lessons of Thoreau: that we should savor the journey and experience our environment. It’s as Professor Nancy Etcoff said in my episode 274 on the Pursuit of Happiness: The pleasure system in our brain responds positively to the beauty of the natural world.

I love to run, as I know you do: but maybe every once in a while we should slow down, and just go for a walk.

Philosophers have been asking the question “What is Truth” for thousands of years, as they try to determine if truth is subjective, objective, relative or absolute.

I think that we, as runners: have a special opportunity to both ask and, in some specific way, at least, answer the question for ourselves.

Truth can be found in the hard work and determination we put into every mile; truth can be understood based on our personal experiences about what we can achieve and the goals we can accomplish: and truth can be felt in the exhaustion, sweat, agony and tears associated with the triumphs and failures of a life on the road.

I propose to you that running can bring you great happiness, and since I know that I’m preaching to the choir here, I’ll ask you to consider how running can bring happiness to those in your family, friends and acquaintances whom you’ll meet in your life…and that no matter how sad or broken they and we may sometimes feel: we have an obligation and a certain unalienable right to engage in the pursuit of happiness.

In this episode we tackle the philosophical question “Is it morally right to quit a road race?”. For help in understanding the question en route to an answer, we call about the great minds of Professor Richard Dawkins, Immanuel Kant, Socrates, and Aristotle.

This episode of Phedippidations is intended to recreate for you the experience of running with fellow runners and friends. On April 30th Team Poco Loco gathered in Boston Massachusetts to run a half marathon distance around the mighty Charles River.

This is the story of a fellow runner by the name of Katie who fought a good fight in that all too familiar way where all options are gone and the only thing left to do was to make a terrible agonizing choice: “When you have nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire”

“From where he tottered before the couch, on muscles immune to elongation and contraction, Duncan contemplated his next move. Opposite the lavatory, on the northern end of this dwelling, was his bedroom: unkempt and festooned with the discarded wrappings of many cakes, candies and snack treats; necessary supplements to his ongoing carbohydrate loading.”

This is the story of Duncan, a man without ambition or purpose who stumbles upon an idea that challenges his very existence and forces him to consider living a different life. In this original story, I try to convey the importance of inspiration and how powerful positive examples can have to those who seek to live a better quality of life.

The term varietal describes an elementary form of something. With wine, it’s the fermented product of a single grape. With running, the word varietal describes the specific practice of a training element. With running as with wine it’s important to understand the differences between the fundamental elements that go into the final product, so that when the harvest is released: be it after bottling or on race day: the end result can be savored over time; with rich expressive notes and a fine lasting finish. The concept of varietal is as useful to wine as it is to running. It helps to define the unique elements that make up a good training plan, or great a Bordeaux, Meritage or Blended wine. It’s important to understand each varietal and how they bring out the best in the end product of that which you seek to consume: be it the finish line of a 26.2 mile road race or the lasting finish of a remarkable bottle of wine. Get to know the varietals that comprise your goals, and you’ll savor the glass or medal as you live your life to the top.

We all know how running can improve our lives, our health and our disposition with the universe around us. We know that running is part of a healthy lifestyle and that it can improve the condition of our cardiovascular systems, and that we have evolved as homo sapien sapiens from Australopithecus Africanus to run across the savanna in search of the meat from fallen animals. The benefits of running are clear, and new evidence is being found that further supports this idea that we should be runners: because as we’ll learn with the workings of the inner brain: running is the smart thing to do!

The song “An Ordinary Guy” was written, performed, and produced by one of the most talented musical artists currently residing in this quadrant of the galactic spirally arm: Matthew Ebel; who creates incredible music right here in the Boston area. Go to his website at http://matthewebel.com join his email list, see where he’ll be playing live, and buy one or five of his great albums at http://matthewebel.com/store/

You and I are out on a run together. As we’re getting our miles in we start to talk to each other to pass the time. This is where we get to know each other, where we start to open up a little and reveal ourselves as the persons we really are.

You and I are different, with different backgrounds, different beliefs and different understandings of the universe around us. I want to know what you’re all about, and you might want to know what’s going on in my teenie tiny little head. So today, let’s acknowledge that we really are out on a run together, and I’m going to reveal to you a little bit more about who I am.

These are what I call: Intervals and I’ve even gone ahead and created a couple of podcasts where I express my thoughts in a rambling diatribe format, one is recorded in audio, the other in video, both are available on iTunes.

In running, of course, an interval workout is one where you run hard for a specific duration or distance, such as once around a track, and then you run at a relaxed rate, or maybe even walk…during an interval between the running portions.

So while Phedippidations is a podcast where we have a conversation about running and running related topics; today’s episode will be an interval break from that.

Today I’m going to open up an audio family picture book of sorts, and tell you a few stories from my life. There’s nothing earth shattering of deeply profound here…just a few snippets from a life I’ve lived that will better help you to understand this goofy middle aged, middle of the pack slightly asthmatic fellow runner who you run with each week.

The song “I am a Man of Constant Sorrow” was performed by, in order of appearance: The Soggy Bottom Boys and Dan Tyminski; Norman Blake, and John Hartford: http://www.losthighwayrecords.com/artist/releases/release.aspx?pid=1379&aid=72

Today I present the second in a series of episodes that I’m calling “Running Blogcasts” featuring the writing of fellow runners in our community who have a talent for the written word. The author of today’s episode is Kim Cowart. (Kow-ahrt).

Kim is one of the writers for the “Reasons to Run” blog over at Deseretnews.com. She’s a 35 year old mother of two from West Jordan, Utah.

Kim spent much of her childhood living in Eugene, Oregon where running is as common as breathing. In her teens, she moved to Utah, where there is a large and very strong running community. Kim has always run off and on, but it was after she had her second daughter that her love of running became more serious.

It started with a 20 minute run, and before she knew it, she found herself registering for her first marathon. She had never run a race before, ever. Her husband says she’s an all-or-nothing kind of girl, and this just proved him right.

Kim finished her first marathon alive and well and even qualified for Boston. Since that day she has run nine marathons including Boston. She plans to run Boston again this April as well as the New York Marathon and the Utah Grand Slam which is a series that requires runners to complete four major Utah marathons over the course of six months. It’s that all-or-nothing part of her personality again.

While Kim loves to call herself a runner, she is many other things. She is a mother of two beautiful little girls, the wife of a curly, red-haired bowling math whiz, a daughter, a sister, and a friend.

Kim is a fitness instructor at a local gym where the members inspire her and bring her joy on a daily basis. She is a jig-saw puzzle addict. She was a high school English teacher in a former life. Her astrological sign is Cancer, although she has no earthly idea what that means, but apparently is it important to some.

She is a cyclist and spends as much time as she can in the beautiful Wasatch Mountain range riding with her friends in the summer. She is a voracious reader of historical fiction. She is an organizer and master list-maker. She is a dancer, but only when she’s playing Dance Dance Revolution with her girls, so that probably doesn’t count.

It was a gym member who attends Kim’s spin classes who asked her to contribute to the “Reasons to Run” blog and it’s been a joy for Kim to be able to combine the two joys of her life: running and writing. Her blog isn’t necessarily always about running, specifically, but it’s always the inspiration. She hopes her honest thoughts about running, exercise, balance and finding joy in the simplicity of life will inspire others to get up and move and realize that it’s never too late to change for the better. It’s her mission to tell people that life is good and it’s worth living well. Running makes it all the sweeter.

I am honored that Kim would agree not only to let me re-publish her article from the Reasons to Run Blog, but that she took the time to read it for us herself….and did so on very short notice. I present for you an amazing fellow runner, Kim Kowart, with her essay on a topic we can all relate to: Pre-Race Jitters.

Celebrities are people too. They wake up in the morning, just as we do, they brush their teeth, they log onto their computers, they lace their own shoes, and they have to put in the same amount of effort as the rest of us in training for their marathons.

You could outrun Will Ferrell, Kim Alexis and President Bush if you dedicated yourself to the task. There’s nothing special about someone who is famous. Their bodies undergo the same physics and chemistry that we are prone to experience…and while they may have financial advantages which give them access to experts and training tools that can help them run faster and further; in the end: they still have to get in their miles to achieve their goals…and if it helps to motivate you, their goals can be your goals…because you are just as good an athlete as they’ve ever been or will be.

LINKS: http://www.ncm.ca

Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com http://www.sportrelief.com The song “Ya Famous?” was by George Hrab: http://www.geologicrecords.net

IF YOU COULD, SOMEHOW, SEND A MESSAGE TO SOMEONE WHO WILL BE ALIVE ONE THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM?

The universe has come together to create the unique and special life form that you are, with your hopes and fears, dreams and concerns. The thoughts you form and the words you write and say constitute information, never to be duplicated information born of your mind that goes out into the world and has the potential, however remote the possibility, to outlive you and be shared with far future generations of people.

If you had the opportunity to send a message to someone in the year 3011, what would you say? Would you tell them about yourself and your life? Would you warn them about the dangers of hurting the environment or plead with them not to go to war? Would you talk about love and joy, sadness and pain, life and death?

And if somehow you were granted this chance to speak to someone in the future, how would you get your point across?

I think the answer is obvious: poetry. Poetry is a universal means of communication.

“Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted”, wrote the English Romantic Poet Percy Bysshe (Bish) Shelley.

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” Wrote the American poet Carl Sandburg.

And Plato wrote that “Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history”.

It’s poetry, I tell you, that would get your message across the expanse of time. It’s poetry that would most effectively allow you to speak from your heart and mind to a person who lived in a time where everything we know has changed.

You really need to consider what you’re going to say to future fellow runners…because this dawn of New Media and Social Networking is making these opportunities possible.

Although currently in it’s infancy, the infrastructure that is being assembled today will allow you to speak to your great, great, great, great grandchildren and to those of ages to come: and with that opportunity comes a responsibility to speak the truth and pass your information along…because there will never be another living creature like you in this universe again: and now is the time for your poetry. Poetry is all about emotion and passion. It’s this quality of the message that gets passed on through the ages and gives us that opportunity not only to speak to future generations: but to do so in a voice they’ll understand; for as long as there are human beings to read and understand the words of others, there will be poetry to pass along to common sentiment. Life and death, joy and sadness, passion and ennui. These are the same feelings and emotions that human beings have shared since our species first began to walk the planet, and until the great technological singularity to come changes the way we might associate the human condition with past and future generations of beings: we’ll have poetry as a way of reaching each other through time and space. Special thanks to my friends who took the time to read some great poems:

The song “Pretty Colored Lights” written, produced and performed by an amazing musical artist and poet: Warren Lain, from San Francisco, off his new CD: Phonofield. Check out this amazing artist and teacher at http://warrenlain.com

As a runner, you have to discover and understand your own running Terroir. You need to know how your environment, personality, geography and local climate influences your ability to perform. In this sport, we are taught to listen to our bodies and the symptoms of over-use injuries: but before we can hear and feel these signals from our bodies: we have to know who we are as runners….not in relation to others of similar age, weight, sex and shape…but relative to where and how we train.

Dr. George Sheehan has said repeatedly that we are each an experiment of one;

“Life is the great experiment” he said “Each of us is an experiment of one-observer and subject-making choices, living with them, recording the effects.”

Learn how your Terrior manifests itself in your body to make you the runner you have become, and you’ll better understand the range of your limits; which are far above and beyond what you might expect.

You are an expression of the place where you become the runner you have always wanted to be. With wine as with runners the stress brought on by the place where they develop has a direct effect on the type and quality of the end product. Step back and consider deeply your own running Terroir, use the knowledge of your place and the special stresses it challenges you with and you will come to train better and become the quality runner that your place in this world can make you.

LINKS: The song “This Place” was by Derek Clegg from Chicago. http://www.derekclegg.com Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com Join the Runners Round Table: http://runnersroundtable.com

I’m starting off the new year right by answering all of my email (or at least trying to). In this episode of a goofy little podcast I respond to some of the messages I was unable to get to last year with hopes that I’ll be able to answer ALL of my email in the year of our Lord 2011.

Also, join me for a swim in the FROZEN Atlantic with friends on New Years Day, and I get to chat with friend and Mojo Loco Founder Adam Tinkoff as we discuss his vision for el Mojo Loco!

LINKS: “Whiskey in the Jar” was by the Blaggards http://blaggards.com Please support The Mojo Loco Fund: http://mojolocofund.com

With the changing of the calendar year it’s common for us to take the time to look back on the previous solar orbit, or look forward to our future. This is a great exercise, to look forward without dwelling on the past: as we make our way through this adventure called life. But, it think it’s even more important to consider our present….the now that we are existing in…today, right now.

This is our time. The who, that we are has grown and become in such a way that we can experience the Universe around us….we are, in effect: a way for the Universe to know itself; and I know that sounds deep…but it isn’t.

Consider that we, as human beings, are made of flesh and blood whose elemental construction has it’s origins in an enormous universal expansion that began 13.7 billion years ago…we are made of star dust…ever replenishing cells made of carbon atoms, hydrogen and oxygen that have through biology formed into the creatures we are today.

Trillions upon Trillions of inanimate objects and animate lifeforms have existed before us, and ga-zillions of intelligently aware creatures will exists when we are gone; and time will move onward towards an inevitable state of inaction where the universe and all the matter that it ever created will come to a stop: and space will enlarge to a point where time has no meaning, and there will be no way for the universe to experience anything: it’s a depressing thought, this asymptotic heat death of everything that has ever been: when the universe reaches a temperature of absolute zero.

So, this is our time: it’s a reason to celebrate. We are here, today: with a purpose to make the world just a little bit better than it was before we got here. It’s a pretty good purpose, and yes: while the far imagined future may lay waste to all we’ve done and accomplished physically: there is more to life and purpose than that we can touch and see, feel taste and smell. I’m not here to provide spoilers for the significance and importance of the purpose that even the eventual heat death of the universe can’t destroy: but I’ll ask you to think about that…think about your now, and how in 20 years, 30 years, 50 years from right now you might look back and wax nostalgically about the things you’ll do today.

This is our time to live, to experience and to perform random acts of kindness as a way to make the world just a little…teenie…tiny bit better than it was before we got here.

There’s an old Irish blessing and toast that I’ll leave you with, with sincere hope that we’ve left 2010 behind us, that we’ll have a wonderful 2011 and that we can all appreciate the gift of the present.

“May your troubles be less, And your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness come through your door. “

LINKS:

Alde Land Syne by J.E.L.L.i at http://www.jellimusic.com and by Mario Ajero at http://marioajero.blogspot.com

Today I’m going to read for you the final chapter of Dr. George Sheehans book “Running and Being – The Total Experience”. I’m doing this in hopes that you might buy and read his book, and as a way of presenting you with an alternate special holiday episode of Phedippidations…a gift you don’t have to unwrap.

This chapter is very special to me, as I hope it will be for you. It was the conclusion to a book that so inspired me, so enthralled me when I first picked it up, that I literally could not put it down until I finished it well into the early hours of the next morning.

I’ve read Dr. Sheehans book, “Running and Being” at least a dozens times since I first read the book; and this final chapter titled “Seeing” really sums up most of the major points made in the previous 17 chapters.

You can purchase the book “Running and Being – The Total Experience” by Dr. George Sheehan, at http://www.georgesheehan.com/books

The friends who I ran the Mojo Loco with are listening to this right now, Chris and Chris, Eddie, Nik, Dan, Mat, Susan, Steve, Samantha, Norm, Adam and Maddy.

They’re wondering to themselves: “How is Steve going to tell this story? How will be express the narrative? What imagery will he call upon? What great message will he send forth throughout the tubes of the Interwebs to tell the world about this Mojo Loco?

So this is for my fellow teams mates; dedicated runners all; who accepted the challenge and call of the Mojo Loco and contributed by their presence to a happening:

Guys, I thought about it…I really did. In the days following the Mojo Loco I had a lot to digest, thoughts and ideas, feelings and revelations.

I know you did as well.

I could have told the story of how we met at the Starbucks in Daytona Beach and drove North to St. Augustine. I could have told the story about the many stops we made along the way and the twelve legs of a run we accomplished together. It would have been a good story: interesting, entertaining and fun to hear; but it wouldn’t have been a GREAT story.

The GREAT story that I wanted to tell was all about YOU.

Each of you brought something of yourselves to this event, where the whole of our group was far greater than the sum of its parts. YOU are the story that needed to be told here, and if you want to call that wishy-washy mumbo-jumbo gobbily goop: go for it, but you know I speak the truth.

What we did, together, as a Team, is something so important…something that everyone who’s listening to the sound of my voice right now, can and must become a part of.

If indeed, we are indomitable as a team of thirteen runners from around the world, then other Mojo Loco events must be organized, and other teams assembled: because think about the good we can do in this world. Think about how we can motivate and inspire others to lace up their shoes and use their athletic potential for creative and social good!

The Mojo Loco wasn’t about bib numbers and racing forms, entry fees and complementary tee-shirts. It was about US, It was about Chris Russells good humor, and Eddie Marathons sincere kindness, Nik’s artistic talent and Dan’s great ability for prose.

The Mojo Loco was about Susan’s perseverance, Marathon Chris’s dedication, Samantha’s joy of running and Matt’s exuberance for sport. It was about Adams creativity, and Norms determination, Steve Choppers generosity of friendship, and Maddy’s inspirational passion.

This was an event, never to be duplicated yet oft to be repeated. The story to be told here was all about the Team: the runners who came together to share the road and our time.

Of this you can be certain: there will be other Mojo Loco’s, and other opportunities for this team and others to meet, run, talk and savor the luxury of each others companionship. Something magical happened on December 11th, between the cities of Saint Augustine and Daytona Beach Florida: something that developed in ten hours the way a fine wine might improve over ten years.

Thirteen acquaintances: like minded souls brought together through social networking and new media met for coffee and became good friends.

That’s the promise of el Mojo Loco…it sounds crazy, it sounds ridiculous: but you who experienced know better: and through each of us, so will our community.

It was, without a doubt, an incredible honor to meet and run with you; but it was a special precious privilege to become your friend.

The history of wine is the history of civilization. It’s a story that dates back to the earliest days of agriculture and encompasses the life and times of our ancestors who consumed wine for both pleasure and ceremony. When we raise a glass today, we are tasting more than just a fermented grape juice which technology has perfected into a form of liquid art; we are tasting the product of history; an ancient beverage that friends have shared over the millennium at the end of their long and arduous days shaping the world into a better place for themselves and us, their descendants.

Get to know the parts and materials that make up your running shoes, and you’ll be a better consumer of the one critical tool needed to reach your goals as a runner. Whether you’re looking to run your first marathon, set a PR or BQ or just want to run at your own pace for the joy of it…wearing the right running shoes will make the difference between surviving through the miles, or savoring every moment you’ll have, on the road. Links: http://twitter.com/steverunner http://www.ustream.tv/channel/phedippidations http://steverunnerblog.com/ http://teammojoloco.blogspot.com/

The song Skullcrusher Mountain was by Jonathan Coulton at http://www.jonathancoulton.com

Today’s episode, being my first Running Blogcast features the writing of Neil Bearse, a fellow runner I’ve never had the honor of meeting in person: but I feel like we’re old friends. Neil is the one who first introduced me to my all time favorite musical band: Black Lab…as well as others.

Neil is the manager of web based marketing for Queens School of Business in Canada. He’s responsible for the web presence of 5 MBA programs as well as executive education initiatives in Canada, the Gulf Region and Europe. He is a digital marketing consultant focused on making online communications clear and effective while ensuring creativity and innovation.

Neil’s pioneering work to market the music of independent artists on-line and through the word-of-mouth channels of podcasting and blogging has led to him representing artists from across North America including Black Lab, David Usher, Ingrid Michaelson and My Chemical Romance. In 2007, he was one of the architects of the Bumrush The Charts project, a global viral marketing campaign responsible for placing a Black Lab single on iTunes charts in 16 countries.

Finally Neil is a frequent public speaker and teacher, helping groups understand emerging online technologies and how it affects their business or industry. If you work for a company that is looking for help in online marketing communications and social networking, or are looking for a talented speaker who has been involved in social engineering on the internet since the tubes were first connected: get in contact with Neil…you can get in contact with him at his website: http://neilbearse.com

You have the same ability to produce content in an artful way that will, no doubt, convince someone you care about to join us on the road as runners…and, if in the course of those public new media conversations, you convince one or two others to rise up of THE COUCH OF DOOM, then all the better!

You and I have an opportunity, today: through the use of blogs and podcasts to write and speak the words that will inspire the people who read or listen to become runners themselves…and by virtue of your experience for having been where they once were…and by telling the story of your life on the road in an entertaining, thoughtful and brutally honest way: you will change their lives for the better and make the world just a little bit better than it was before you spoke.

The American statesman Ben Franklin once wrote “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. There may be something to that with respect to our running performance. We sleep, on average a full one third of our lives. So, as a middle aged, middle of the pack, slightly asthmatic 48 year old runner: I’ve already slept 16 years of my life away. It seems like an unfair trade off: 16 years of my life that I could have spent in a conscious state of productivity…but when we consider that the time spent sleeping helps to improve the quality of the two thirds of our life when we are awake: it’s easy to see that the horizontal investment is a sound one. Links: http://www.runningresearchnews.com/News_Feed.php http://www.rrca.org/services/news-entry/running-community-mourns-loss-of-mike-broderick/ http://www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi http://www.teamsweat.org http://educatingforjustice.org The song “Slow Down” was by Black Lab off their new album: “Two Strangers” available on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and at http://blacklabworld.com

Today I will tell you about an amazing person who lived his life to the top. It’s an interesting life with high and low points, with obstacles which were overcome leading towards an eventual spiral into disaster…but in the end, redemption and glory. Abebe Bikila was the first black African to win a gold medal at the Olympics, winning the Mens Marathon in Rome which he completed barefoot! The headlines in the Newspapers and on the radio proclaimed the fact that it had taken an entire Italian army to conquer Ethiopia, but only one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome! Links:

http://www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi The song “Salala” was by Angelique Kidjo; with background vocals by Peter Gabriel. http://www.kidjo.com

How many of us have trained over many months for a race only to perform terribly in the event itself, or how many of us have crossed that finish line in say, oh…I don’t know…a minute and 31 seconds slower than we had hoped.

It happens…a lot. But we know that the sun will rise in the morning, we’ll put the pain behind us, and go forward. Some days we win, some days we lose, some days we don’t even have the opportunity.

Today’s episode is somewhat long over due, the last show I did featuring your email was on March 14th, episode 228 “Dispatches from the Road”. That was just the second episode into a six month hiatus where I produced episodes every two or three weeks apart…but now that I’m back to a regular weekly schedule, I’m going to try to do this once every 4 to 5 weeks, if I can.

So, let’s figuratively jump into the virtual mailbag and see what happens….because today is the tomorrow I was worrying about yesterday…and the sun came up just fine. Yes I had a really crappy week last week…but I’m looking forward today; so lace up your shoes and join me for the ride.

In the area of genetics and with respect to athletics, we are trying to understand what construction instructions are required to build the perfect runner. It would seem that certain attributes exist which we can use to measure the influence of our genetic blue prints to create faster humans…and that our ethnic origins might predict who of us will be able to run faster and farther. But the fact is that we are an infant species, descended from the same Mitochondrial Eve who ran across the African savannah 150,000 years ago…and we’re all related, we all have the same basic building instructions, the same Deoxyribonucleic acid and each of us, everyone: has the same set of running genes. Links: The song “That Spells DNA” was by Jonathan Coulton http://www.jonathancoulton.com Channel Runner Review: B-Hag Running PodCast http://www.corsolameta.blogspot.com

They ran all over the world. They ran in warm places, cold places, rainy places, dry places. They ran alone and with friends; they ran fast and slow, in an organized race and in their back yards. They ran with the sound of each other in their ears and the spirit of each other in their hearts.

The World Wide Festival of Races is a celebration, but this social networking movement does not end on race weekend. We run together every day, all around the surface of a little blue bubble in space: and we do so with the knowledge and understanding that we do not run alone: not as long as someone, somewhere is lacing up their shoes to head out on their local roads. We are a global community of fellow runners; and together we run.

In a Universe that is thirteen point seven billion years old, on a planet that has only existed for four and a half billion years; our species: homo sapiens sapien, has only been around for two hundred thousand years, in fact modern day homo sapiens with our language, culture, use of tools, barter between groups, art, game playing, music, and reliance on symbolic thought only began to arise 50,000 years ago. Civilization, as we know the word, started to arise around 10,000 years ago in the middle east, near where Iraq is today…you and I fellow runners are a part of an infant species with respect to the age of all that there is.

Think about that for a moment. Everything you know….everyone you know, everything that has ever happened in the ten thousand year history of civilization of fellow human beings has occurred only on this four and a half billion year old planet three orbits out from a four and a half billion year old star in a single, typical spiral galaxy out of a hundred fifty billion in the entire universe?

Our galaxy is moving through an expanding universe that will one day distance itself from all other existing galaxies such that the very atoms which comprise our long past living bodies will no longer exist in motion, and all that ever was will stop within an impossibly long distance between every other point of definable matter.

Why then, do we live in a world where hatred, anger; and distrust seems to prevail? What is it about our human condition that causes us to experience such animosity and distrust? Ignoring that question, if we take the premise as fact: then what are we to do about it?

Well, here’s one thing we can do: and maybe this won’t change the course of the mighty river of war, or hold back the tide of hurt, pain and hate…but if we as a community of fellow runners can demonstrate to those around us that we can be friends despite our many differences: if we can, by example, explain to anyone we interact, socialize or come in contact with that we have friends all over the world, who run together every day…and if we can take a global event like the World Wide Festival of Races and use it as an example where good people of different nationalities, different religious backgrounds, different ethnic origins, different social or sexual lifestyles and different political interests can overcome all those differences and extend respect and dignity across a little blue bubble that we share together in space: then we’ll have done our part.

Thank you for being a part of this fifth annual world wide festival of races. Thank you for being a friend and helping to celebrate this community of fellow runners, who today ran all over the world: in Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Channel Islands, China, the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South America, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam and the Virgin Islands.

It is an honor to run with you. Think Global, Run Local.

Show Links: http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com

Please support http://teamsweat.org in the fight to stop the Nike Corporation from forcing Indonesian workers into slavery.

THANK YOU BLACK LAB! The Song “Start a Fire” was an exclusive release by the Official Band of the World Wide Festival of Races: BLACK LAB, from their new album “Two Strangers”. Go to http://blacklabworld.com/marathon to download TWO FREE SONGS as a Virtual Goody Bag Gift from Paul and Andy. Follow Black Lab on Twitter: @paulblacklab and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blacklabband and be sure to THANK THEM for the gift of music!

Special thanks to Neil Bearse from http://neilbearse.com for all your iPad wisdom and hooking us up with the ear candy!

Special thanks also to Kevin Gwin from http://theextramilepodcast.com for letting me borrow his HOTLINE (Now that you’ve used the number you can leave him submissions on a regular basis!)

And THANK YOU to everyone who submitted a SHOUT of ENCOURAGEMENT for the entrants of this year event! Be sure to check out all their great blogs and podcasts as mentioned in the show! These are the friends and fellow runners who CHEERED for you!

PodCamp is all about podcasting, and using this medium to reach out to a community. Since you and I are runners, and since we all listen to podcasts, you and I are a part of this thing…and since I’m eager to encourage everyone listening to my podcast to start up their own podcast, I thought it would be useful to dedicate today’s episode to what I learned at PodCamp. PodCamp is first and foremost about community. It’s not about selling a service or a product, it’s all about focusing on building personal relationships with other podcasters. Think of it this way; you and I are a part of a running community of new media creators…we listen to running related podcasts listed on Runningpodcast.org and we run with each other as we train for our next big race, or just get some miles in together because it feels good. This is our podcasting universe: but there are other worlds than these…other podcast universes that have nothing to do with running: such as marketing, story-telling, science, comedy, news, politics, religion, and any other topic and genre you care to think about. It’s here at PodCamp where these universes collide in a good way!

Thank you to Chris Penn who generously spent some time with me during his lunch break to talk about all things podcasting. If you’re interested in social networking and marketing (a key element to the topic of podcasting) you need to get to know Chris Penn.

Show Links: http://www.christopherspenn.com http://www.marketingovercoffee.com http://podcampboston.org/ Look for a PodCamp near YOU here: http://podcamp.pbworks.com/ Here’s the article I mentioned in the show: http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2010/08/the_calm_surface_obscures_the_roiling_depths.php http://myentryblank.blogspot.com/ http://www.planet3rry.com http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com goodybag@worldwidefestivalofraces.com www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi The song “Get Over It” by THE Matthew Ebel http://matthewebel.com

The Stanford University study titled “Reduced Disability and Mortality among aging runners” was published in the August 11th, 2008 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. At the time that the study was conducted: the assumption was that vigorous exercise would cause older people more harm than good. The expectation was that running would lead to an excess in orthopedic injuries and lead to earlier disability with runners over 50. But the researches found that regular exercise would extend high-quality, disability free life. Frequent running would compress the period at the end of life when people couldn’t do things on their own. This is an idea that has been given the name “compression of morbidity”. In this episode of Phedippidations, I’ll talk about both the clinical details of this study AND the significance of it’s findings, leading to the obvious conclusion that Life is Short, but it Should be Long Enough! Show Links: http://www.runningthenarrowpath.blogspot.com http://planettinkoff.com http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com http://www.iamplify.com/store/product_details/Rabbi-Shmuley-Boteach/Afterlife-Debate-With-Christopher-Hitchens/product_id/8621 www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi The song “One Monkey Don’t Stop the Show” by Brick Daniels http://brickdaniels.com

The modern day running shoe is a perfect example of technology and science working to build upon the advances made through history to help human beings walk and run for longer distances and faster speeds in comfort and without injury. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, the Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer, once wrote: that "the foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art" Those who conceive manufacture and sell modern day running shoes dare to improve on the use and design of the 200,000 year old evolved human foot. They are doomed for failure, unable to compete with the efficiency of our born to run bodies. But running shoe companies can benefit from five thousand years of experience from those who walked and ran before us, and incorporate the lessons of cordwainers, cobblers, and shoe makers throughout history as they seek to create a better running shoe. Show Links: http://runninginhingham.blogspot.com http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com Send me your SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGMENT for the runners of the 5th WWFoR: Email me steve@steverunner.com or Call 206-339-6497 http://theextramilepodcast.com http://astore.amazon.com/phedthepodcfo-20

While the first part of this episode is dedicated to the precautions a pregnant mother should take with regards to athletic endeavors, there are many benefits to running while pregnant including the prevention of excessive weight gain. Running while you’re pregnant can keep you mood off and help to prevent pregnancy induced hypertension. If you’re healthy, and you’re having a healthy pregnancy there is no reason not to run. Listen to your body, and check with your doctor. It’s probably best not to run an Ultra marathon, or compete in a major race where you might feel obligated to run hard. Remember, you’re running for yourself and your unborn…and while running can be good for you and make you feel better: what’s most important is that you are healthy and well prepared on your child or children’s birthday as you go through one of the greatest athletic event that a woman will ever experience…the marathon of labor. Show Links: http://teammojoloco.blogspot.com http://amilewith.me.uk http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi SEND ME YOUR SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGMENT: steve@steverunner.com OR DIAL: 206-339-6497

From Saturday April 14th through the 18th, 2010 my Dad, son, nephew and I traveled up the West Branch of the Penobscot River and across the northern end of Chesuncook Lake in the Northern Maine Wilderness. Through our journey we gained a better appreciation of Henry David Thoreau’s adventure of 1853. While logging in the Northern Woods of Maine continues, the river that we paddled on remains mostly unchanged. You can imagine the sites and sounds that Thoreau experienced as he journeyed up this river. We saw many moose, every day, stopping to feed and drink at the rivers edge. We saw Eagles and Loons, ducks, geese, ospreys raven, fish, red squirrels and more that we could not identify…but it was the moose, lanky majestic in stature and serenity that captured our imaginations the most. They are, as Thoreau called them: “God's own horses, poor, timid creatures”; but they are a stark reminder that we are guests in their wilderness; and that they’d continue to roam these woods long after we’ve returned to our creature comforts. This annual trip is much more than just a canoe ride or camping experience: it is an opportunity to reconnect with nature and our family. It’s also an opportunity to tell stories by the camp fire light. Here we listen to the stories that give the lives of our friends and family meaning. These are the moments that make those stories real…my son and nephew will always remember the story of my Dad’s Aunt Penn and her husband Alex, and now so will you: because it is in quiet places; without distractions: that we have deeper conversations and tell the stories that of the people we have known and loved. The wilderness is beautiful on so many different levels: as a place to reconnect to our planet and more importantly each other. If you’ve never visited the woods, lakes and rivers of the wilderness; you owe it to yourself to do so. It’s not scary, it’s peaceful, it’s not boring, it’s insightful, it’s not dangerous although it can be extreme…but you’ll never learn to appreciate the universe we live in, and the people we care about until you can absent yourself from the modern world and follow in the footsteps of Henry David Thoreau.

I am a disciple of Dr. George Sheehan, I’m not ashamed to tell you that, I’ve read and re-read everything the man has written…and I’ve come to know him in a comfortable, familiar way.

A man of science and medicine; a man filled with great passion for this sport and a devoted Roman Catholic…Dr. Sheehan and I have a lot in common; but while I yearn to be a writer and use this podcast as a creative outlet: I will never come close to the writer that he was…I will never approach the level of philosophical understanding of life, the universe and everything that he understood so well. Dr. Sheehan was a great thinker…I’m merely a doofus.

But Dr. Sheehan was also human, and prone to human error, selfishness and sin. He understood his weaknesses…he understood his imperfections and he didn’t live his life in wonder and celebration of those sad, dark and lonely attributes: but he did seek to understand himself and to understand how and why to love others.

Today, I’m going to read one of the final chapters of his book “Running and Being: The Total Experience”. I’m doing so in the hopes that you might buy his book and read carefully what he wrote. Profound, enlightening and brutally honest: this is the Dr. Sheehan that I’ve never met, but who over the past 11 going on 12 years of my running life I’ve come to know very well.

Show Links:

You can purchase the book “Running and Being – The Total Experience” by Dr. George Sheehan, at

http://amzn.com/0966631803

Or for $20 US (including shipping and handling) through http://www.georgesheehan.com

Send a check or money order payable to “The George Sheehan Foundation” to

George Sheehan Foundation P.O. Box 1831 Red Bank, NJ 07704

(732) 758-1611

http://www.nevernotrunning.com/

http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com

Free Audible Book download: www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi

The song “Grow” was by April Start http://www.myspace.com/aprilstartsmusic

As it is with most things in life, taken in moderation: Caffeine can be good for you and improve you’re your health and your performance on race day. But too much of a good thing can lead to disaster. In living our lives to the top we have to learn to savor, with small sips, those things which bring us pleasure and improve our health. Show Links: http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(07)00076-X/abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1478936/?page=1 http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com http://hearzenrun.com Free Audible Book download: www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi “The Java Jive” was by The Inksports (1940) “Coffee Man” was by Calvin Owens http://topcatrecords.com